Roblox paid out over $400 million to game developers in H1 2024, with DAU reaching record 79.5 million
Roblox has released its financial report for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024. The company also shared how much money it paid out to game developers.
Image: Roblox’s blog
- According to its earnings release, Roblox reached $893.5 million in revenue last quarter, up 31% compared to the same period last year. Bookings grew 22% year-over-year to $955.2 million.
- Net loss attributable to common stockholders was $205.9 million, an improvement from $282.7 million in the same period last year.
- Developer exchange fees, compensation paid to users in Robux that can also be cashed out in real currency, grew 25.5% year-over-year to $208.2 million. In the first half of FY24 (January-June), the company paid out $410.6 million to game creators (+18% YoY).
Roblox’s cost and expenses in Q2 and H1 2024
- Average daily active users (DAU) reached 79.5 million (+21% YoY), while monthly unique players grew 22% to 16.5 million. This is the record quarterly result in the company’s history.
- Average bookings per monthly unique payer (ABPDAU) were $19.34.
- In Q2, users spent a record 17.4 billion hours on the platform, up 24% compared to the same period last year.
- For the full fiscal year ending December 31, 2024, Roblox expects its revenue and bookings to be $3.49-3.54 billion and $4.18-4.23 billion, respectively. The net loss guidance is about $1 billion.
Roblox’s monetization has long been the subject of criticism. In 2021, People Make Games released a video accusing the platform of exploiting young developers and paying them with “pretend money.” On the one hand, the company allows thousands of content creators to make money by creating games a.k.a “experiences” on the platform. On the other hand, Roblox pays them in Robux, and converting virtual currency into cash comes with a lot of pitfalls.
A minimum of 30k Robux (roughly $375) is required to cash out through the DevEx program. Although Roblox says its goal is to “drive as much money to our creators as possible” while maintaining “reasonable margins” for itself, its commissions are higher than most of the other app stores and platforms.
Developers can earn from every transaction made in their “experiences”, but Roblox returns only 29% of every dollar. So making $1,000 from a game would net its creator $290. According to the company, more than 17k devs made over $650 on the platform in the 12 months ended March 31, 2024.
Earlier this year, Roblox Studio head Stefano Corazza told Eurogamer that the company doesn’t exploit underage developers: “Like, you can say, ‘Okay, we are exploiting, you know, child labour,’ right? Or, you can say: we are offering people anywhere in the world the capability to get a job, and even like an income. So, I can be like 15 years old, in Indonesia, living in a slum, and then now, with just a laptop, I can create something, make money and then sustain my life.”
