Non-RPG General News - How Roblox Is Exploiting Young Game Developers

People Make Games investigates the Roblox phenomenon. Ars Technica further comments on the video.

Investigation: How Roblox Is Exploiting Young Game Developers

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On Roblox, kids learn it’s hard to earn money making games

New report claims that the massive video game platform can exploit young developers.

Roblox has become a video game titan, in recent years dominating the world of kids’ gaming and earning $454 million in revenue last quarter alone. A new report argues that success is built on exploiting young game developers, many of them children, who are making content for the game.

As a platform, Roblox provides gamers the tools to both create and play an almost unfathomable array of “experiences,” from climbing an enormous stairway to running a restaurant to escaping a prison. Tens of millions of these games live on Roblox’s browser—hundreds of times more titles than exist on Steam. Every day, 43 million people play those games, mostly kids. Some of the most popular experiences have received billions of visits and earn their developers millions annually.

According to a new report, however, this model—which powers much of Roblox’s enormous success—may take advantage of young game developers. Published Thursday by People Make Games, a YouTube channel by independent games journalists, “How Roblox Is Exploiting Young Game Developers” takes a deep dive into the promise of “making it” on Roblox and alleges that the platform actually sets kid developers up for failure.