Hope your self-esteem is high today, because it’s time to learn about some teens who are richer than you.
Roblox, a site that hosts millions of user-created video games, skyrocketed in popularity during the pandemic. Players spent 3B hours on the site in July, 2x the amount they spent in February.
And its independent developers (mainly young adults) are in for a major payday.
Roblox says it has 2m+ developers, ~345k of whom are making money. It splits the profits (generated from in-game purchases) with game-makers 50/50.
Three years ago, 17-year-old Alex Balfanz dropped his cops-and-robbers game Jailbreak. It’s been played 4B+ times, and bagged Balfanz a seven-figure income.
Anne Shoemaker has made $500k from Roblox, mostly on the success of 2 games, Mermaid Life and My Droplets. She started her own gaming enterprise, Fullflower Studio, which now employs 14 contractors.
“People used to tell my mom, ‘Stop letting her play this video game; it’s not going to get her anywhere,’” Shoemaker told The New York Times. “And it’s getting me somewhere.”