Gaming News “It’s not exploitation, it’s a gift” Roblox boss makes controversial comments about his video game
Roblox may be one of the most popular games in the world, but this “platformer” is rarely spoken of highly. Just a few days ago, the boss of Roblox, Stefan Corazza, threw a coin back into the machine with very clumsy comments, preferring to view the game as a gift and an outstretched hand to get out of poverty, rather than as a form of exploitation of the labor of minors .
Extremely awkward comments that spark controversy: Who benefits the most from Roblox?
We often tend to forget about it, probably because AAA video games and other major video game productions overshadow it, but Roblox is one of the most popular titles out there. For example, its greatest strength is its ability to attract millions and millions of players every month: In fact, it’s estimated that there are more than 200 million of them worldwide and only a few video games can boast them.. However, Roblox is as popular with gamers as it is controversial. The main criticism that it aims at is obviously its economic model, which would greatly benefit the creators and young developers who deliver this “platform game”. This is exactly where the YouTube channel “People Make Games” sounded the alarm in 2021.
Even then there were allegations Roblox to enrich itself on the backs of its developers, as they were compensated through a percentage collected from the sale of Robux (the game’s virtual currency). After a calculation, it turned out that sales of Robux earned the company behind the game four times more than those pursuing it with new creative ideas. We get it: it’s been a while Roblox is in the crosshairs of certain players and units and Studio head Stefano Corazza only added fuel to the fire by speaking in these terms and about the economic model and exploitation of (very) young developers on the site Eurogamer.
I don’t know, you can say that about a lot of things, right? For example, you could say, “Okay, we’re exploiting child labor,” right? Or you can say: We offer people all over the world the opportunity to get a job and even an income. So I can be 15 years old, living in a slum in Indonesia, and now I can create, make money, and support myself with just a laptop.
There is always the other side of the coin when you expand and become more democratic – and in this case with a younger audience. What I mean by this is that the average game developer is in their 20s. But of course there are teenagers – and we hired teenagers who had millions of players on the platform. (…) For them, you know, from experience, they didn’t have the impression that they were being exploited! They might have said something like, “Oh my God, this is the greatest gift, suddenly I can create something, have millions of users, I’ll make so much money that I can retire.” So I’m more focused to the amount of money we give out to creators every year, which is now close to a billion dollars, which is phenomenal.
A well-rehearsed response from the boss of Roblox to rectify the situation
It was necessary to suspect it, This media release only increased the controversy already very significant Robloxalthough Stefan Corazza has pointed out that “ the vast majority of people who make money from it Roblox are over 18 years old » and that this enabled many children and young people to try their hand at programming by learning the Lua script. The head of felt that the communication organized recently during the GDC was somewhat outside the company’s control Roblox wanted to clarify the statements. On the one hand, by stating that the company does not employ minors, and on the other hand, by explaining the company philosophy behind the “platform game” phenomenon.
In order to properly convey the message, Stefan Corazza wanted to point this out Roblox « is aimed at a large community of creatives (…) who are interested in it for many reasons “, East” an educational tool, where education is a company value and part of its DNA (…) is used by many teachers around the world “is a place where the main motivating factor is the joy of creating, and not monetization – as a recent survey by the company would suggest – or that it is a platform that makes the lives of developers on certain axes easier, which increases their income increased and which gives them more opportunities to make money. To conclude all this, Stefan Corazza wanted to emphasize: “ More than 90% of the 1,000 experiences with the highest engagement hours in 2023 came from developers aged 18 and over ». A well-established communication that still proves that about 10% of these experiences come from smaller people who play a large role in the Roblox ecosystem.
