What is Roblox?

Avatars chosen by Roblox players are colorful and blocky.
(Photo courtesy Roblox Corp.)
Avatars chosen by Roblox players are colorful and blocky. (Photo courtesy Roblox Corp.)

It's an online store and platform on which people create and play video games. In this sense it is similar to Steam, a storefront/platform for PC games. But unlike Steam, on Roblox all the games are built by Roblox users, many of them children, using a suite of development tools provided by the site.

Game creators make money on Roblox. The site and its games are free to download and play, but users can buy in-game upgrades. They buy and use a virtual scrip called "Robux" to unlock the upgrades. Developers get part of each purchase, in Robux. After developers accumulate a certain amount of Robux, they can convert them into real money.

A publicly traded corporation, Roblox Corp. (NYSE: RBLX) reports that its users have published more than 20 million games. More information is at corp.roblox.com/parents.

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