From its humble beginnings in 2006, Roblox has since become one of the most profitable video games of all time. Now, Roblox stock has hit the market, and after an incredible reaction from investors, Roblox Corporation (the company behind the game) is worth over $45 billion in just its first day. That's pretty amazing for a game that's still free-to-download. So, how did a free game become worth over $45 billion?

Roblox's debut on the market was pretty unbelievable, as Roblox stock rose 54% on its first day. Now, it's been valued at $47 billion, which is especially surprising for a company that only has one game. To put this in perspective, Microsoft made headlines when it purchased ZeniMax Media for $7.5 billion, and that was for a deal that included huge game series like The Elder Scrolls, Doom, and Fallout. So, the fact that Roblox's worth is just over six times the amount of the ZeniMax deal is definitely impressive.

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Admittedly, Roblox stock was expected to be highly valuable. The game released on PC in 2006, and then moved to mobile devices and the Xbox One in the 2010s. The game has proven to be especially popular with younger players, and it saw an increase in users since the COVID-19 global pandemic. Still, Roblox is a free game - so why is it actually worth so much money?

Why Roblox Is Free But Still Makes Money

Roblox may be free to download and play, but it offers in-game purchases. Players can spend real money on Robux (in-game currency), which can be used to buy cosmetics and other items. This has proven to be very profitable for Roblox Corporation, and this how Roblox earns most of its revenue.

This kind of approach has proven to work very well for the company. In 2020 alone, Roblox developers made $250 million from the game, and estimates report that it's made somewhere over $2 billion in revenue total. It's also important to realize that while Roblox may technically just be one game, it's gotten so popular due to a lot of the user-created content, which are like games within a game.

So, while it may seem strange for a single game to be worth over $45 billion, that's because Roblox has so many games within it. And even though Roblox is technically free-to-download, its in-game purchases count for a huge amount of its revenue - and that's why Roblox Corporation is currently valued at $47 billion.

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Source: CNN