The Definitive Statistical Guide to ROBLOX’s High-Growth 2012

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ROBLOX Circle LogoWe’ve published a number of articles that look back at 2012: a letter from our Founder and CEO David Baszucki, a recap of the hottest blog articles of the year, and a who’s-who of popular games and catalog items. There’s just one left, and it illustrates not only ROBLOX’s annual growth as a unified platform, but your collective passion for creation and exploration. Let’s draw some conclusions.

1. It’s hard not to spend time on ROBLOX.

There’s just so much to see and do, as evidenced by these stats:

  • Total gameplay hours exceeded 176.3 million, a 50% increase over 2011
  • Total page views reached 13.3 billion, a 37% increase over 2011

For the year, you and other ROBLOX users racked up the highest number of gameplay hours and website page views we’ve ever seen. The number of visits to Roblox.com rose to 685 million for 2012, a 66% annual increase over the previous year. On top of that, 86% of new ROBLOX users in 2012 came to the site via word of mouth (as opposed to an online advertisement), which grew the total number of word-of-mouth accounts by 56% over 2011. It’s great to see such organic growth in the ROBLOX community. Keep helping us spread the word!

ROBLOX Gear2. Online shopping really is fun.

In 2012, more than 17.6 billion Robux — equivalent to $176 million U.S. dollars — changed hands among you and other users in the ROBLOX economy. This activity represents a more than 150% increase in virtual currency exchanged since 2011, and highlights the entrepreneurial spirit of many ROBLOX users.

With a bunch of new economy-based features arriving in 2012 — the Trading System, Game Passes and Add Gear to Game to name a few — we’re continuing to diversify the ways you can earn and spend your Robux.

3. If you want to make a game, ROBLOX is the place to be.

Base Wars: The Land

For the first time, four well-known ROBLOX games topped 10 million plays, while 149 other places accumulated at least one million plays each. This is proof that if you build something entertaining on ROBLOX, you can reach a huge audience of gamers, builders and shoppers. Some of the top user-created games and places on ROBLOX in 2012 were names you’ll probably recognize:

  • Base Wars: The Land, developed by the 18-year-old d4rk886 from Hong Kong, received 15,189,409 plays. Base Wars: The Land is a real-time modern battle game where great teamwork is the key to winning.
  • Paintball!, developed by the 17-year-old daxter33 from Massachusetts, received 14,114,928 plays. Paintball! is a team-based first person paintball shooter, similar to what you might play in real life. It’s the Red team vs. the Blue team to win the round (by most points, flag captures, etc.) and players can level up to unlock new gear.
  • Catalog Heaven, developed by 18-year-old Seranok from Illinois, received 12,108,593 plays. Catalog Heaven is a social game where you can try on and test practically any hat, gear, face or package from the ROBLOX catalog.

Paintball! Screenshot

You can read a more detailed listing of the top 15 ROBLOX games (plus gear and hats) of 2012 at this previous blog post.

All these numbers are great and we’re proud to share them, but we ultimately have to give credit to you, the ROBLOX community, for spending time on ROBLOX and building highly entertaining stuff. You’re what makes ROBLOX such a vibrant place.

39 thoughts on “The Definitive Statistical Guide to ROBLOX’s High-Growth 2012”

    • Love Roblox. It expresses all my creativity. In fact, so much that my creativity has been expanded since I started Roblox.

  6. I play for the social aspect.
    If i want to build something, I’ll go play Minecraft, which doesn’t try to murder my computer with lag every time I enter a game.
    when you grow up and realize how great ROBLOX ISN’T, you might understand. everybody knows the shiny happy side of ROBLOX. take a trip to the dark side for a change

    • So true! Roblox thinks they are increasing because people are happy, not the case. A lot of people are mad about things.

  7. I spend so much time on Roblox that my parents start to get mad at me. And yes, they say I’m addicted and I think it might be true.

  10. Making games for fun: Good on Roblox. Roblox is a fun, easy to use tool for developing games for ENJOYMENT.

  11. ROBLOX is swiftly increasing in user activity. This is the result of a great gaming platform, made by great developers. I live in Merely’s neighborhood, too :D

  15. ROBLOX is just plain awesome, once you learn good building skills and java script, YOU CAN DO ANYTHING!!! :D

  17. Im working on a game on ROBLOX and must say, it’s the most time I’ve taken to make a game on Roblox. I’ve been here since 07′ and am still lovin’ the incredible feel ROBLOX gives you when playing on its platform. :D

  18. I agree with mostly all of which this article says. ROBLOX is very fun and addicting, but making a game is hard for a lot because scripting is hard. Not complaining, just saying. For me, ROBLOX is great for playing games while ChallengeYou(CY-rocker, surprise) is good for new people of the building thing. But, since I wish not to be banned at this time, I will not try to force people upon CY or continue talking about it. Bottomline: ROBLOX is a great gaming experience with a pretty nice community(I have had a time with horrible people) and I love that it is evergrowing in player statistics.

    -Cyrocker

  20. It’s true this is a great place to start 3-Dimensional design and programming, you just have to know where to start.

  21. The graphics in the pictures look amazing, really high-def. But, even if I drag my slider up to full (10) in-game, I never see the shadows, or any of the other cool graphics. Why is that?

    • You have to go into roblox studio and mess with some of the settings. Just don’t do it unless you know what your doing.

  23. Wow, I never knew that Merely is from Illinois. It’s kinda cool to know that one of the most famous people on ROBLOX lives in my state! #GoMerely :D

  24. I agree that it is hard to not spend time on ROBLOX, especially as a builder. Keep up the cool features, ROBLOX!

  26. Yeah it is really cool. And wow who knew so of the best game makers are kinda adults? Wow just wow. :D

  30. I got to say, It’s true that when it says “to make a game, ROBLOX is the place to be”