Roblox Surpasses Quarterly Bookings Estimates with Increased In-Game Spending, Shares Soar

Roblox, the popular online gaming platform, has exceeded expectations with its quarterly bookings as in-game spending soared.

Credit: Roblox

This impressive performance, coupled with the surge in users during the summer break, has propelled Roblox's shares to rise by over 17%.

During the September quarter, Roblox witnessed a remarkable 20% surge in average daily active users, reaching a staggering 70.2 million. This period coincided with school holidays, when children typically engage more in gaming activities. The company's finance chief, Michael Guthrie, highlighted that growth was particularly strong in western Europe and east Asia, where older players tend to spend more on the platform due to their higher purchasing power.

Net bookings, which are generated from in-game purchases of Roblox's virtual currency "Robux," reached $839.5 million, surpassing the estimated $830.2 million, according to LSEG data. This robust performance indicates that spending on video games remains resilient, even in an uncertain economic climate.

Roblox has been actively targeting older gamers and investing in advertising to diversify its user base. These efforts have resulted in a 20% increase in hours spent on the platform and a 14% rise in the number of average monthly unique paying users in the third quarter.

The company's expansion has extended to new platforms as well. Roblox launched on Meta Platforms' Quest mixed reality headset in September, garnering over 2 million lifetime installs by the end of October. Additionally, the platform recorded more than 15 million downloads on Sony's PlayStation devices in October, following its launch the previous month.

Despite its impressive performance, Roblox reported a net loss of $277.2 million for the quarter ended September 30, compared to a loss of $297.8 million in the same period last year. However, the company remains optimistic about its future prospects and plans to reveal its forecasts for full-year 2024 and the first quarter of 2023 in February next year.

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• Roblox has surpassed quarterly bookings estimates as in-game spending surged.

• Average daily active users increased by 20% to 70.2 million during the September quarter.

• Net bookings reached $839.5 million, surpassing the estimated $830.2 million.

Source: REUTERS