Global online gaming platform Roblox has released its second quarter 2023 results which show that the company’s revenue (bookings) increased from $680.8 million to 15% year-over-year and up 17% YoY.
Roblox’s revenue/bookings increased by 22% year over year. In last year’s quarter, Roblox reported bookings of $639.9 million. This latest quarter is $140.1 million higher than in the year-ago quarter. In the second quarter, Roblox reported a 25% increase in average daily active users soaring up to 65.5 million. Also, the platform’s user engagement surged by 24% year over year, with users spending over 14 billion hours on the platform.
The platform generates revenue by selling its own virtual currency, Robux. Players use Robux to purchase in-game items and features, such as new clothes for their avatars, special powers and access to exclusive content.
Despite statistical growth in many areas, Roblox’s second-quarter results fell short of analysts’ expectations both in terms of revenue and profit, leading to shares experiencing a decline of over 21%.
Expect more losses
Roblox reported a net loss of $282.8 million for the quarter, which ended June 30th against a net loss of $176.4 million for the same period in 2022.
Roblox says net losses increased due to, “Higher levels of expense required to support the growth of the business – specifically developer exchange fees, personnel costs, infrastructure and trust and safety, and corporate overhead,” according to its shareholder letter.
“We expect to continue to report net losses for the foreseeable future even as we anticipate generating net cash provided by operating activities.”
David Baszucki, founder and CEO of Roblox says, “We continue to drive high rates of organic growth in DAUs, Hours and Bookings. We are growing among users of all ages and across all geographies. We remain focused on extending our product leadership to drive value for creators and brands.”
AI integration plans
In the same letter to shareholders, Roblox says it plans to accelerate creation using artificial intelligence as it sees the technology as ‘critical’ for accelerating the creation process on its platform.
“Throughout our company’s history, we have made numerous product releases that leverage AI. Recent advances in the sector enable us to create a multimodal generative AI model that works with all types of content – images, code, 3D models, audio, avatar creation and more,” said Roblox.
“We envision a world in which any user can also be a creator and brands can build their presence on Roblox quickly and cost-efficiently.”
Isa Muhammad is a writer and video game journalist covering many aspects of entertainment media including the film industry. He's steadily writing his way to the sharp end of journalism and enjoys staying informed. If he's not reading, playing video games or catching up on his favourite TV series, then he's probably writing about them.
