The clacking of a keyboard and the endless hum of a computer monitor fill the air of a bedroom. A teenager is hunched over their screen on Roblox. To most, this might just seem like another kid mindlessly playing video games for hours on end. Yet it is actually something much more: a Roblox developer bringing their vision to life.

Roblox is an online platform that allows users to create and play games. Eighty-eight point nine million users spend an average of 2.4 hours on Roblox daily. 

What most people don’t realize is that Roblox developers made $803 million dollars in earnings last year.

For many creators, Roblox has become more than just a mere hobby. Young developers have managed to create booming businesses by developing games on the platform. The top 10 creators on Roblox are making thirty million dollars annually, according to Roblox. These young developers aren’t just making games–they’re building thriving businesses.

Take Dress to Impress, for instance: the game on Roblox that has recently had people all over the Internet in a frenzy. According to the U.S. Sun, this game was created by a girl named Gigi, a 17-year-old who started developing the game when she was only 14. 

Gigi’s story is just one of several that demonstrate how young people may turn what started as a simple hobby into a successful Roblox business.

The building blocks: getting into the hobby

Matthew Dean, a Roblox developer and former employee, has been developing on the platform since 2010. As a kid, Dean grew up building Legos. Upon being introduced to Roblox from an ad, Dean took up the opportunity and began tinkering with Roblox Studio, the Roblox platform that allows users to create games.

“One day, I saw an ad on a website talking about how you could build anything you wanted on Roblox. That was the start. After that, I downloaded Roblox Studio and started building things,” Dean said. 

As he grew more experienced with game creation, Dean released a few of his original games, his most popular being “Catalog Heaven.” 

“Originally, my game didn’t get that much attention. And then, a few months later, I logged into Roblox and went to the front page of games, and my game was just there, meaning it was one of the most popular games. On that day, it sort of blew up out of nowhere,” Dean said.

Another Roblox developer and former employee, Nathan Griffin, has a similar experience.

“I first discovered Roblox when my buddies were talking about making a game over the lunch table in middle school. When I asked what they were talking about, they told me about Roblox and encouraged me to sign up and check it out. So I hopped on, and it started there,” Griffin said. “I grew up playing video games with my dad, and I always wanted to make games. Roblox provided an easy way for me to do that.”

After getting familiar with developing, Griffin began to work on bigger projects.

“None of the games I have made are super popular. They’re just a bunch of projects and stuff like that. I started working on ‘Robloxian High School’ after it became really big. My job was to manage new content and build a team to produce new content for the game,” Griffin said.

Developer dollars: earning revenue

The primary way in which Roblox users earn money through developing is through the platform’s Developer Exchange Program (DevEx). DevEx allows Roblox creators to exchange their earned in-game currency, known as Robux, for real money. The program is limited to successful developers, requiring participating developers to have at least 30,000 Robux in their account, equivalent to about $375 USD. The exchange rate is $0.0035 per one Robux. 

When a user spends Robux in a creator’s game, Roblox takes a certain fee, and the remaining value is distributed to the developer. Ultimately, on average, developers earn 29% of every dollar spent on their game. This system encourages users to create creative and engaging content with the motivation of generating revenue.

As more developers learn how easy it is to build on the platform and how much money they can make, many start building.

“The freedom Roblox gives you to make a game really quickly and play with your friends instantly, no one else in the world has been able to accomplish it the same way Roblox has,” Griffin said. “The magic of Roblox is that you can just do and make anything you want really fast and learn the entire ecosystem pretty quickly. Roblox is the best platform in the world to start making something.”

Roblox fosters this community with various tools and resources for developers, most of which are free, making game creation accessible to people of all backgrounds and experiences.

“I think Roblox is a place where you can bring your creativity to life pretty easily and share it with others,” Dean said. “For a lot of young people looking to get started in game development or even learning to code, it’s a fantastic place to learn and get feedback on what you can build.”

But while getting started on the platform as a developer is easy, earning revenue is not. Gaining exposure for creations can be difficult.

“It’s a tough way to make money. Typically, on these platforms, it’s a small percentage of people who make a lot of money,” said John Rowe, the business teacher at Carlmont. “Same with an influencer: you don’t really make any money until you get hundreds of thousands of views on videos. You have to really go viral in order to get some revenue.”

On top of that, the process of producing, coding, scripting, and building compelling games can pose challenges.

“Designing repeatable content that’s fun can be a challenge. It’s hard when you don’t want it to be boring and unengaging,” Griffin said. “Secondly, understanding and interpreting the data in a way that you can use it when you’re making a game can be hard.” 

Despite this, developers have managed to forge success in their creations. According to Roblox, the 20,000 developers in the DevEx program have a median income of $1645 over the past year, as of September 2024. 

Dean joined Roblox’s DevEx program after its release and cashed out his virtual currency to pay for college. Today, after having interned and worked at Roblox, Dean turns his experience of developing into other fields.

“I’ve sort of taken my game development skills and translated them into more general software. I have been working on apps in my free time. I have different ideas for things that I think are missing from the world,” Dean said.

Griffin has also taken advantage of his developing experience. He now works full-time for Twin Atlas, a game development studio on Roblox that has created several successful games, including “Robloxian High School,” which has had over 1.5 billion visits, and “World // Zero,” with over 358 million visits.

“It’s great that all of these companies are opening up opportunities for developers to create different types of things for other people to use. Even if you make just a couple hundred dollars, it could help you find what you love, which could help you find your career,” Rowe said.

Dean and Griffin are just two of countless young developers who have found success in their projects. Clarence Maximillian is the CEO of his own Roblox studio that produced “Frontlines,” an experience on Roblox with over 146.3 million visits, at age 25. Similarly, 24-year-old Anne Shoemaker leads Fullflower Studio, the producer of “Mermaid Life,” with over 94.8 million visits. At that same age, Landon Noland—part of Uplift Games, the studio that created the famous “Adopt Me!“—has earned over $1.2 million.

“Hearing these stories about developers becoming so successful inspires me, especially since a lot of the people are young and close to my age,” said Madeleine Kim, a junior at Carlmont. “I haven’t tried making games on Roblox, but it makes me want to.”

The prosperity young developers have managed to achieve not only inspires others but also demonstrates that with just a computer, young creators are breaking new ground, building successful projects and even prosperous businesses.

“Just make something. The magic of Roblox is that you can just do and make anything you want and release it. You’re not going to get good if you don’t do it, so you just have to do it,” Griffin said.

This story was originally published on Scot Scoop News on November 5, 2024.