Case Study - Roblox

Roblox doesn’t just let users play games: it lets them create them. Roblox enables creators to co-develop new video games and deploy them to its platform marketplace. A graphical user Interface (GUI) guides players and creators through the platform, providing information about characters, game mechanics, and a variety of other features. Roblox has more than 40 million games in its ecosystem. Fully 75% of young people in the US play and create on Roblox.

Roblox’s expansive distribution is made possible by its powerful Interface, which includes accessing digital twins, generative AI automation (e.g., GPT4), and new AI models.

The video game industry is larger than the music and film industries combined, notes Oxford University robotics researcher—and OpenExO community member—Wolfgang Merkt. “Roblox democratizes not only the distribution but also the tools to co-create video games,” he says. “It empowers its users to leverage their creativity in creating new games and thus creating loyal followings. Traditionally, game development is highly complicated and secretive, with established developer studios producing the key franchises in multi-year development cycles, often tied to new console releases. Roblox leverages Community and Crowd in the discovery and development of ideas.”