Roblox now worth $4bn as games industry continues to boom
Roblox corporation, the company behind the eponymous Roblox game beloved of children around the world, has received a $150mn round of investment.
Led by Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm from Silicon Valley, the Series G round brings the total funding amount to $335.7mn.
Unlike the likes of Fortnite, which saw precipitous growth after the release of its Battle Royale game mode in 2017, Roblox has grown organically since it first came to market in 2005. That age may come as a surprise considering the ephemeral, here today, gone tomorrow nature of technology, but Roblox’s persistence demonstrates the utility of consistently supporting and updating a piece of software.
Roblox now says it has 115mn monthly players representing 1.5 billion hours of monthly engagement.
SEE ALSO:
In a press release, David Baszucki, CEO and co-founder of Roblox, said: “We’ve stayed true to our vision of creating a safe and civil place where people come together to create, learn, and have fun, and it’s amazing to see what we’ve built together with our global creator community. Looking ahead, we’re doubling down on our commitment to building the most advanced tools and technology to take our creators and players into the metaverse of the future.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, the latest round of investment has resulted in valuation of $4bn, putting it among the world’s most valuable tech unicorns. Roblox is far from alone on that list among its industry mates, with the likes of Epic Games, the makers of runaway hit Fortnite, being worth around $15bn. Back in 2014, Mojang, the developers of Minecraft, were acquired by Microsoft for a cool $2.5bn.
The inescapable fact is that gaming is big business, and only getting bigger. Esports, the competitive playing of games, for instance, is expected by Goldman Sachs to be worth $3bn by 2022 (up from $869mn in 2018).
(Image: Roblox)
