The popularity of Roblox Corp. in Russia is increasing, even as almost every other publicly traded gaming company has pulled out of the country after the invasion of Ukraine.
The popularity of Roblox Corp. in Russia is increasing, even as almost every other publicly traded gaming company has pulled out of the country after the invasion of Ukraine.
At Roblox’s developer conference on Friday, Chief Executive Officer Dave Baszucki said Russia sees more than 2 million active Roblox users per day. Russians are among Roblox’s largest consumer base, after the US, Brazil and the Philippines. The US has over 11 million daily active users.
“We’re growing in every country,” Baszucki said.
Roblox said it’s also getting a boost from a machine translation tool in Russia, with playtime increasing by 3.6% among those who used it compared to those who didn’t.
Electronic Arts Inc., Nintendo Co., Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., Epic Games Inc., Ubisoft Entertainment SA, Microsoft Corp. and Sony Group Corp. have delayed or stopped sales from Russia. The moves are in line with a long list of multinational companies that have pulled out of the country due to government sanctions and financial and reputational risks in order to continue doing business in Russia since it invaded Ukraine in February.
Roblox said in a statement that its “mission is to unite a billion people around the world with optimism and civility, and as a global platform we believe the right direction is to empower people around the world.” stay as connected as possible.”