Game news “It’s not exploitation but a gift” Roblox boss makes controversial comments about his video game
Roblox may be one of the most popular games in the world, but rarely is this “platform game” spoken of in glowing terms. Just a few days ago, the head of Roblox, Stefan Corazza, put a coin back into the machine with very clumsy comments, preferring to see the game as a gift and an outstretched hand to get out of poverty rather than as a form of exploitation of minors’ labor.
Extremely clumsy comments that spark controversy: who benefits from Roblox the most?
We often tend to forget it, probably because AAA video games and other major video game productions overshadow it, but Roblox is one of the most popular titles out there. Its greatest strength, for example, is its ability to attract millions and millions of players every month: It is even estimated that there are more than 200 million of them around the world and that few video games can boast of.. However, Roblox is as popular with players as it is controversial. The main criticism of which it is the target is obviously its economic model which would greatly benefit from the creators and young developers who supply this “platform game”. It is also on this precise point that the People Make Games YouTube channel sounded the alarm in 2021.
Already at that time, people were reproaching Roblox to enrich itself on the backs of its developers since they were remunerated through a percentage collected on the sale of Robux (the virtual currency of the game). After calculation, it turned out that the sale of Robux brought in four times more to the company behind the game than to those who follow it up with new creative ideas. We understand: it’s been a while now since Roblox is in the crosshairs of certain players and entities, and the head of the studio, Stefano Corazza, only added fuel to the fire by expressing himself, in these terms and about the economic model and the exploitation of (very) young developers, to the site Eurogamer.
I don’t know, you can say that about a lot of things, right? For example, you can say, “Okay, we exploit child labor,” right? Or you can say: we offer people all over the world the opportunity to get a job, and even an income. So, I can be 15 years old, in Indonesia, living in a slum, and now, with just a laptop, I can create something, make money and support myself.
There is always the other side of the coin, when you expand and become more democratic – and in this case, also with a younger audience. By that I mean the average game developer is in their 20s. But of course there are teenagers – and we hired teenagers who had millions of players on the platform. (…) For them, you know, from their experience, they did not have the impression of being exploited! They might have said something like, “Oh my God, this is the greatest gift, all of a sudden I can create something, have millions of users, I make so much money that I can retire.” So I’m focusing more on the amount of money we give out to creators every year, which is now close to $1 billion, which is phenomenal.
A well-rehearsed response from the boss of Roblox to rectify the situation
It was necessary to suspect it, this media release only reinforced the controversy already very significant around Robloxeven though Stefan Corazza indicated that “ the vast majority of people who make money on Roblox are over 18 years old » and that this allowed many children and teenagers to try their hand at programming thanks to learning the Lua script. Feeling that the recent communication organized during the GDC was somewhat beyond the company’s control, the head of Roblox wanted to clarify the statements. On the one hand by specifying that the company does not hire minors and, on the other hand, by detailing the company’s philosophy behind the “platform game” phenomenon.
To get the message across correctly, Stefan Corazza wanted to point out that Roblox “ is aimed at a large community of creators (…) who are interested in it for many reasons “, East ” an educational tool, education being a company value, part of its DNA (…) used by many teachers around the world “, is a place where the main motivating factor is the pleasure of creation and not monetization – as a recent survey by the company would suggest -, or that it is a platform that facilitates life of developers on certain axes, which increases their income and which offers more opportunities to allow them to earn money. To close all this, Stefan Corazza wanted to emphasize that “ more than 90% of the top 1,000 experiences in terms of engagement hours, in 2023, were from developers aged 18 and over “. Well-established communication which still proves that around 10% of these experiences come from minor individuals who have a big role to play in the Roblox ecosystem.