“People do everything from playing traditional games, to social experiences that are more around hanging out and just being together whether it’s working together in a restaurant or running away from a tornado,” Baszucki said at our conference. That has made people want to do things on the platform that are more metaverse-like, such as having birthday parties on Roblox. During the pandemic, Roblox saw its usage go through the roof, as many other game companies saw as players were trying to distract themselves from reality while sheltering in place. The company has 2,300 trust and safety volunteers that help keep the peace.īut Baszucki has put a lot of thought into what it takes to build the metaverse.

This “ digital civility” push will keep Roblox a safe place, which is key to keeping its core audience of kids and keeping the trust of parents. 1 thing that the company is investing in is ensuring that it has a safe and respectful community. He said that Roblox had no business making its own games on its platform or attempt to curate for quality. He said he didn’t view himself or Roblox as building the metaverse, as he considers Roblox to be a “shepherd” for the users creating the metaverse. (He wasn’t allowed to do that, per securities laws.) But he has never struck me as the kind of person who is in it for the money, or a quick buck. When I interviewed Baszucki at our GamesBeat Summit: Into the Metaverse event (see the video here), we didn’t talk about the stock offering. Like Halliday, Baszucki is the visionary who dreamed of building the metaverse in the early days of his company 17 years ago. (OK, maybe he’s more like Ogden Morrow, the cofounder of the Oasis in the novel). Is that a reason to buy the company’s stock next week?Īs much as anyone, Roblox CEO Dave Baszucki is a kind of James Halliday figure, the fictional billionaire who built the Oasis, or the version of the metaverse in Ernest Cline’s sci-fi novel Ready Player One. I see its pending success or failure as a stock as a kind of referendum on the metaverse, the universe of virtual worlds that are all interconnected, like in novels such as Snow Crash and Ready Player One. Roblox, the platform for user-generated games, will go public through a direct listing of its shares on March 10.

At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of 'Playing the Edge.' Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here.

Roblox ipo 2021