The Californian firm has achieved a feat: to establish itself as one of the most popular video game brands in the world without designing any game. Because within Roblox, Internet users themselves develop virtual universes, thanks to to a turnkey creation kit integrated into the platform, Roblox Studio. Any novice can hope to woo gamers all over the world by creating their own game.
Aurélien Reynard, 22-year-old Lyonnais, is one of the pioneers in the field in France. He was still in college when he discovered Roblox in 2013 and developed a passion for programming. “I learned everything on the job, it was quite complicated, but I gradually improved my skills thanks to YouTube videos”, he rewinds. Over the years, he became an expert in development, participated in the creation of successful games and got used to working for professional studios. Today, this son of a worker and secretary has just put his computer engineering studies on hiatus to devote himself full time to Roblox. He estimates his income at around 30,000 euros gross per month.
“We must be a dozen French people to really make a living thanks to Roblox”, notes Aurélien Reynard, who earns around 30,000 euros per month
Aurélien Reynard knows it: his trajectory is an exception among the thousands of developers who have never touched a dime on Roblox. “There are no precise figures on this subject, but we must be a dozen French people to really make a living thanks to this platform. And it took me almost ten years to develop my network to get there ”, he insists. In 2020, the company said it appealed to more than 2 million designers around the world. Some are independent, but most of the very popular games are produced by professional studios.
Robux, the Roblox dollar
For Yannick Rochat, assistant professor in video game studies at the University of Lausanne, this economic model marks a new stage in the history of video games: “It’s a platform that hosts games, but does not itself put any service on the market. Like Uber or Airbnb, it is content to provide software that allows Internet users to exchange services ”, notes the researcher, for whom “We have the impression of a system where money circulates, but above all it enriches the platform”.
As with Fortnite, access to the Roblox platform is completely free. But the incentives to get your hands on the wallet are omnipresent, to unlock certain features or to acquire the latest trendy avatar accessory. Here, the exchanges are made in Robux, the local currency indexed to the dollar. The developers, themselves, are remunerated thanks to the microtransactions carried out within their plays, and can convert their jackpot into real currency only after having amassed more than 100,000 Robux, or approximately 1,250 euros. The American firm of course retains a commission. The sums at stake are very low, you have to attract thousands of gamers to hope to generate interesting sums.
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