The popular online video game platform is about to make its developers very rich as Roblox shares have been listed on the stock market. The kids would be happy to know that their favorite pixelated universe’ stock has raised by 54.4% on its first day. The current per-share price closed at 69.50 USD after witnessing an investor frenzy on its stock market debut. The CEO David Baszucki, known by his gaming avatar Builderman, saw the promising future of its platform and other opportunities that can follow this development.
Roblox shares started trading at 64.50 USD, which was well above the 45 USD reference price NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) set for it on the first day. During the session, the highest mark it touched was 74 USD that caused it to reach 47 billion USD market value already.
Roblox Shares Increase With The Number Of Users
During the year 2020, Roblox attained impressive numbers in overall statistics. Its daily number of Roblox users has increased to 85%, monthly users to 75%, and total hours spent on playing the game have more than doubled to reach 30 billion USD. Earlier in 2020, during a funding round, Roblox’s market value was evaluated at 4 billion USD. Huge demand for Roblox stock surged its share price and Builderman’s stake to nearly 5 billion USD. Interestingly, 56% of its 200 million monthly active users and 33 million daily users are children aged under 13.
Reddit Plays A Role In Demand Surge
Reddit community also watching the Roblox stock (RBLX) very closely and anticipated the direct listing of Roblox shares for a long time. According to reports, two days before Roblox was officially listed, the community focused on RBLX doubled to 2300.
Reddit has become a vital platform for retail investors as can be seen from the surge of GameStop stock (GME) in January 2021. However, apart from Reddit’s influence, Roblox’s unique way of doing business is a great factor for its stock market success.
Currently, Roblox shares are greater than those of huge developer corporations:
A Metaverse Beyond Gaming
Roblox is the world’s largest user-generated virtual world. Players can create online worlds using the core building components. Then they share it with the community where anyone can explore and play in that world. It’s a free-to-play game with an opportunity to make and spend some money as well.
At the core of its business model, the virtual platform has introduced a digital currency called Robux. Players can buy this currency to spend on various virtual items. Game-makers also earn Roblox when players play in their created world and spend money in it. The developers of these worlds are typically aged between 14 and 25 who receive 70% of the Robux that other players spend on their games.
During the year 2020, more than 300 world-builders earned at least 100,000 USD worth of Robux. According to records, the total Robox users spent last year was equal to 1.9 billion USD, which made it one of the highest-grossing apps on Google and Apple stores. Players can also donate Robox to others on the platform with or without Builders Club membership. It is a complex process but can be achieved by following these steps.
Coronavirus Boosting The Growth Of Gaming Industry
The video games industry has evolved into an interactive online entertainment after global consumer demand. It has resulted in the unprecedented growth of the player base and sky-rocketing revenues. In 2020, the global video games industry generated nearly 140 billion USD in revenues, according to a market researcher, SuperData. This value is almost three times bigger than what the film and music industry generated last year. Asia-Pacific remains the biggest market by revenue with almost 50% of gamers out of all continents. 78% of the total revenue in the gaming industry came from free-to-play games like Roblox.
Normally consumer spending increases the gaming revenue but coronavirus has revolutionized this industry. Earlier games were mostly sold as a product, where a developer would just sell a game for a one-time fee. It would have to introduce a new add-on or a DLC (downloadable content) in order to generate further revenue from the buyer.
However, now the games are mostly sold as a service to maximize revenue for developers. This way, instead of a one-time transaction, developers use various monetary systems to keep users playing and paying for the long-term. The top-grossing game from last year, Genshin Impact has used a similar style in a friendly manner which earned it a lot of praise from many gamers.
