How Roblox Is Pushing the Evolution of the Internet

While building the Metaverse—an always-on virtual world where people work, play, learn and interact—is a daunting project, Roblox is doing just that. Every day, more than 36 million people around the globe log onto the platform to do a variety of activities, from attending a concert to skiing with friends and designing their own clothing lines. And the pandemic has only accelerated this futuristic version of the internet. Ahead of her appearance at Brandweek’s Challenger Brands event, Barbara Messing, chief marketing and employee experience officer at Roblox, discussed how brands are getting involved in a space where users can come together to do nearly anything the human mind can imagine. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Adweek: What is the main idea behind Roblox? How does it stand apart from legacy brands? Messing: We are building a platform that we expect will ultimately enable billions of people to share experiences together. This concept is often referred to as the Metaverse, which means persistent, shared 3D virtual spaces in a virtual universe. As the Metaverse quickly moves from vision to reality—driven by a new generation growing up online—we are creating this new category of shared experiences that combines media, gaming, social and entertainment. We’ve built complex technologies behind the Metaverse, and continue to innovate in this space where our users’ imaginations will power what Roblox can be and how people will use it. What also sets Roblox apart is our developer community. Most of the millions of immersive experiences on our platform are built by nearly 7 million developers. Some of the innovations in gameplay mechanics and genres originated on Roblox from this community, and later got adopted by other platforms. Today, our creators range from first-time tinkerers to professional teams and gaming studios. It’s a diverse community that includes female and LGBTQ creators, creators of color and of various cultural backgrounds, focused on diversifying the experiences and introducing new concepts. What need are you trying to fill? What innovation have you brought to the space? The need for connection. We bring people from all over the world together through play, enabling them to interact and have immersive shared experiences together with their family and friends. It's the future of how we play, work, learn and experience things together. We have seen how during this pandemic Roblox has been instrumental in connecting people with families, saying it’s been “a lifeline” helping them stay in touch with extended family and friends, and also make new friends. When we surveyed nearly 3,000 teens in our community last year, the majority (62%) said conversations with their real-life friends were among their top activities when they got together on Roblox. Can you describe the typical Roblox customer? Roblox serves a global audience and is diversified across multiple dimensions, including age, geography, device and gender. In the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2020, users spanning over 180 countries accessed Roblox. In that same time frame, approximately half (54%) of them were under the age of 13, but we also saw our 17- to 24-year-old age group growing faster as a result of platform updates that enabled creators to build higher-quality experiences and content that appeals to an older demographic. How has business been during the pandemic? The pandemic has been extremely challenging for everyone, but Roblox has been a way for millions of people to feel part of a community that supports one another in a multitude of ways and to experience joyful moments, whether it’s through our Bloxy Awards ceremony honoring our developer community and fundraising for important causes, or saving Easter and Halloween celebrations for families. Last year we also hosted one of the world’s biggest concerts of all time with Lil Nas X, and one of the biggest book launches for Ernest Cline as part of his Ready Player 2 book tour that brought millions of people together, and there are even more celebrations planned for this year. What are some recent challenges you’ve faced, and how did you overcome them? As a high-growth company, one of the challenges we’ve experienced is around scaling. From the technology and infrastructure to recruiting, Roblox has been growing exponentially in the past years. My initial priority when starting at Roblox was to implement systems that would allow our teams to grow and scale as we become a platform for billions of people to share experiences. As we continue to grow, I’m focused on supporting and inspiring employee experiences and establishing our brand as the most desirable, sought-after place to work for inventors. In 2020, when all of our teams started working remotely to ensure reliability and continued positive and safe experiences, we launched various programs for our employees, from regular mental well-being breaks to fun meetups in a virtual town hall experience where we recreated our HQ, to weekly get-togethers. We’ve also developed a program for next year to create a more flexible working environment when we go back to the office. What advice do you have for anyone with a business idea that challenges more established brands in a particular field? Take the long view, which is a Roblox value. Our founders had this vision of a platform for connection and shared experiences where billions learn together, play together and work together back in 2004, but it took time to build the technology and infrastructure to support that vision. It also took persistence, focus and avoiding distractions along the way. For example, when they were told they should focus on ideas that would bring profits faster—like building their own games instead of building this platform and tools empowering our developer community—they stayed true to their long view to build Roblox as it is now, and gradually developed and grew all of the essential elements of our platform. If you believe your idea will make people’s lives better in some way, solve an essential problem or fill a need, focus on your long-view vision. Anything else you’d like to add? The world’s top brands are already realizing the power of extending into the Metaverse and engaging the Roblox community. Gucci introduced some of its designs on the platform and engaged with our creator community on expanding their virtual collection. We created a Wonder Woman-themed experience in partnership with Warner Bros. and DC leading to the movie premiere last year. The likes of Netflix, NFL, Marvel and Nike have also introduced branded content on our platform.

Challenger Brands

Road to Challenger Brands: Roblox Is Pushing the Evolution of the Internet

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Paul Hiebert

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