The numbers are going up, up, up over at Roblox Corp. The shared experiences (and definitely not games) platform managed to boost its revenue and bookings during its 2021 third quarter.
During the three-month period ending September 30, 2021, Roblox Corp’s revenue jumped 102 percent year-over-year to $509.3 million, and bookings increased 28 percent year-over-year to $637.8 million. (Bookings is used to measure the amount of virtual currency that Roblox users purchase in a given period.)
Last year (before the company went public), it only pulled in $251.9 million in revenue, and $496.4 million in bookings.
Roblox Corp. is still losing money however, and it would appear that loss only increased year-over-year. It reported a net loss of $74 million in Q3 2021, an increase from last year’s loss of $48.6 million.
That increased loss isn’t deterring Roblox’s leadership for now. Chief Executive Officer David Baszucki stated that “engagement is [the company’s] north star,” and boasted that Roblox users spent over 11 billion hours on the game during the third quarter.
“We are happy to report that the developer community earned over $130 million in the quarter and is on pace to earn well over $500 million this year,” he added.
Intriguingly, the fact that Roblox players skew younger got mention in the investor report as a possible driver of how revenue will flow in the company’s future. Chief Financial Officer Michael Guthrie noted that “back to school seasonality,” along with COVID-19 “impacted periods” as two factors that impact the company’s growth.
Could that mean there’s a future period where back-to-school season hits Roblox’s numbers? It’s not guaranteed, but they’re certainly keeping an eye on it.