It does feel like gaming has now entered into the golden age of UGC and what has differentiated the ROBLOX approach is its Omni-channel playability with mobile and PC compatibility, allowing the hundreds of millions to swarm to the online entertainment mecca. Another recent winner is Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite. The platform is a continuation of the great games that continue to come out of the United States. The founder has mentioned that they have a very different DNA, in that while both have a strong element of User Generated Content, ROBLOX is really a UGC platform that allows content creators to create a game that can be different than the fixed aspect of Minecraft and its more rigid survivalist rules. The platform, while not a new kid on the block, was significantly trailing Minecraft (prior to its purchase by Microsoft in 2014). This has caused a massive spike in Daily Active Users (DAU) since the lockdown began, as kids piled into virtual platforms while locked down at home and frustrated parents gave up resistance, ultimately leading to more money being spent in game and the fortunes of the company taking a sharp exit to a listing decision. Today it boasts an incredible and engaged community of mostly aged 8-12 year olds that are playing on the platform daily. It now plans to list directly, which is a much more cost efficient move and will help ROBLOX sidestep intermediaries (this is not great news for a number of investment banks that typically play the intermediary or middleman).Ĭassel and Baszucki founded ROBLOX and initially gave it the name Dynablocks (they purchased on December 2, 2003) to be a physics engine that could mimic real world physics in the metaverse. On a recent podcast with Greylock, the founder Baszucki also known to the gaming world as BuilderMan, discussed that the platform was in hypergrowth with a near vertical growth curve and had much to do, as it looks to expand internationally and prepares for other languages and local market tailoring. The latest round values the company at $29.5Bn and received a cash injection of $520m, which has been led by investors Altimeter Capital and Dragoneer Investment Group. Roblox a gaming platform that was born as an early physics engine and created by Eric Cassel and David Baszucki, has delayed its plans for a 2020 IPO (initial public offering) and has instead booked a large private round.

Roblox ipo delayed