Roblox Users Surge 22% to New Peak Despite Fading Metaverse Hype

Roblox—an online multiplayer game in which players can build their own games and socialize with friends—today published its quarterly earnings with mixed results, but said that its daily active users (DAU) count reached a new record sum. The firm’s stock is up over 7% today to nearly $39 following the announcement.

Roblox said that its revenue and DAU count for the first quarter of 2023 are both up 22% year-over-year. It saw $655.3 million in quarterly revenue and 66.1 million daily users, according to a statement.

Total hours spent in the game have also risen 23% year-over-year, and the company saw a 23% increase in “bookings,” which are purchases of Roblox’s in-game virtual currency, Robux (which is not a cryptocurrency).

Just over a year ago, Roblox had 54.1 million daily users—now, it has over 66 million. Despite its growing user base and increased sales, the company still reported a net loss of $268.3 million. Reuters reported that Roblox’s losses were due to “developer exchange fees, personnel costs, and infrastructure.”

Roblox Chief Financial Officer Michael Guthrie characterized Roblox’s Q1 performance as “strong.” Meanwhile, Roblox CEO David Baszucki said in the announcement that Roblox’s mission is to be a “technology platform” that enables creators.

“The momentum in our business demonstrates the success of our creator community as they bring their visions to life on Roblox, attracting an ever-growing global user base that spans all ages,” Baszucki said.

Roblox is considered a “proto-metaverse” by some—an online game that delivers a taste of the kind of expansive, cross-platform, interactive future that some creators and companies believe is the future.

However, it’s a closed “Web2” ecosystem, and the digital items and virtual currency in Roblox cannot be carried onto other video game platforms. Many Web3 builders advocate creating an “open metaverse” that will let players truly own their items as NFTs, which can be used across games and platforms and sold as desired.

Recently, Roblox began dabbling with scarce digital items that act like blockchain-based NFTs: they are limited in number and can be resold to other users, with a share of the resale price sent back to the original creator. However, like the non-scarce items in the game, they remain locked to the Roblox platform.

Despite waning mainstream interest in the “metaverse” over the past year, Roblox continues to see growth—and has still hired engineers and staff while other tech firms conducted mass layoffs.