Roblox, one of the most popular gaming platforms in the world, has taken a lot of heat from critics who accuse it of exploiting its users, the vast majority of whom are children and teenagers. In a recent interview with Eurogamer, however, Roblox’s studio head, Stefano Corazza, said the platform has actually been a gift to the young developers who make money by creating games on the platform.
“You can say, ‘Okay, we are exploiting, you know, child labor,’ right? Or you can say: we are offering people anywhere in the world the capability to get a job, and even like an income,” Corazza said. “So I can be like, 15 years old, in Indonesia, living in a slum, and then now with just a laptop, I can create something, make money, and then sustain my life.” (An unidentified Roblox PR person present during the interview told Eurogamer that most of the developers earning money on Roblox are 18 or older.)
Third-party developers on Roblox are paid in Robux, the platform’s in-game currency, which can be redeemed for cash. As Eurogamer notes, Roblox also sells Robux at a much higher price than it pays for them: a user can buy 1,000 Robux for $12.50 but can cash out 1,000 Robux for just $3.50. Users can also use Robux elsewhere on the internet — including online gambling websites, according to a lawsuit two parents filed against Roblox last August.
Roblox, for its part, has made recent overtures to legislators as part of a broader effort to prove it’s taking children’s safety seriously. “Obviously, everyone wants to keep kids safe,” Roblox CEO and co-founder David Baszucki told The Verge’s Alex Heath. “It has been something we’ve always focused on. And so we wanted to be a resource for legislators as they start thinking about laws.”
Baszucki is now headed to Washington, DC, to meet with lawmakers about legislation that affects kids’ internet use — and that will affect Roblox as well.
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