2021 was a transformative yr for Roblox. As we reimagine the best way folks come collectively by means of shared experiences, our group grew from 32.6 million day by day lively customers in 2020 to practically 50 million* throughout 180 nations. With this development got here a groundswell of proficient builders who leveraged our newest technological developments to create participating and immersive experiences together with new genres. It was additionally nice seeing our group specific their identification by embracing and creating digital vogue gadgets on Roblox.
There’s no higher technique to level out among the high developments we noticed in 2021 than to look into the information. So, we’re proud to introduce our inaugural “A Yr on Roblox” recap that includes among the high highlights, reflections, and experiences dropped at life on the platform in 2021. Share your favourite high 10s, stats, and developments with the #YearOnRoblox hashtag.
*As of November 2021
WHICH EXPERIENCES DID ROBLOX USERS VISIT THE MOST?
In 2021:
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26,953 experiences reached 100k or extra visits.
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107,737 experiences reached 10k or extra visits.
Experiences that simulate real-life actions comparable to college and household dominated the listing of the most well-liked genres on Roblox in 2021 and acquired twice as a lot engagement time from the yr earlier than. The recognition of Brookhaven, which based on its builders, is a spot the place you possibly can “hang around with like-minded folks” whereas exploring and dwelling in a digital metropolis, is an effective instance of this pattern. Empowering folks to play, join, and create on Roblox similar to they will in the actual world has all the time been core to who we’re, and that is a technique our group is doing simply that.
Listed below are the Prime 5 Most Fashionable Genres in 2021:
- Position-Enjoying (Experiences the place customers tackle a sure character function; might be targeted on simulating sure points of life or character customization)
- Motion, with among the hottest subgenres being Preventing and Survival (experiences that includes fight towards opponent(s) or these the place customers attempt to preserve their characters alive), in addition to Homicide Thriller (the place members get assigned sure roles as a part of a gaggle, primarily consisting of harmless and evil characters making an attempt to finish their very own missions to be able to win)
- Simulator (Experiences carefully simulating a wide range of actions the place customers are gathering sure gadgets or clicking repeatedly to improve the expertise)
- Platformer/Obby (Experiences the place customers try to finish an impediment course with uneven terrain, suspended platforms, and/or numerous hazards, comparable to lava)
- Tycoon (Experiences carefully simulating real-world actions targeted round incomes cash to construct and improve a person’s particular person empire)
In 2021, we noticed a surge in anime and horror experiences. New titles like Anime Fighters Simulator and The Mimic rapidly accrued a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of visits whereas current titles like Shindo Life and Spider noticed their exercise double yr over yr. There was additionally a 4x year-over-year engagement time spike in sure subgenres like simulator collector experiences, notably people who require customers to gather minions to struggle non-player characters (NPCs). Outstanding new examples created in 2021 on this style embrace Pet Simulator X and StrongMan Simulator, which respectively racked up over two billion and 470 million visits.
Moreover, with dozens of name and music partnership experiences like music launch events and vogue exhibits hosted on the platform, experiences comparable to The Vogue Awards began trending among the many hottest whereas stay on the platform.
TOP 10 MOST VISITED EXPERIENCES
The Prime 10 Most Visited Experiences on Roblox garnered billions of visits and hours of engagement time in 2021:
- Brookhaven
- Tower of Hell
- Undertake Me!
- MeepCity
- Royale Excessive
- BedWars
- Blox Fruits
- Piggy
- Homicide Thriller 2
- All Star Tower Protection
The #1 most visited expertise Brookhaven added over 12.2B visits in 2021 alone—in comparison with roughly 2B visits in 2020 when it launched.
There’s a notable number of mechanics and themes on this listing, as seen within the rise of in style titles like BedWars, a aggressive expertise the place you could destroy opponents’ beds in a floating enviornment whereas defending your individual from different customers, and Blox Fruits, an open-world expertise the place you full targets to get particular talents and prepare to develop into extra highly effective.
TOP 10 GROSSING EXPERIENCES
This subsequent group of experiences have confirmed success by way of turning customers into followers. Their creators proceed to shock and delight the group with thrilling new updates and well timed content material, whereas additionally constructing sustainable companies on Roblox and rising their groups. In 2021, these high earners additionally served as social hangouts connecting folks from all around the world by means of shared experiences, be it elevating pets or constructing cities and discovering treasures collectively.
- Undertake Me!
- Welcome to Bloxburg
- Brookhaven
- Homicide Thriller 2
- Royale Excessive
- Blox Fruits
- Jailbreak
- Shindo Life
- All Star Tower Protection
- Grand Piece On-line
WHAT DO INTERNATIONAL ROBLOX USERS MOST ENJOY AND WHERE ARE OUR MOST ENGAGED USERS?
Once we analyzed essentially the most visited experiences in several nations, we noticed many similarities. Gen Z communities are very interconnected, and international developments unfold quick because of the social nature of the platform. Nevertheless, we did spot a couple of variations from the worldwide rating in several markets.
For instance, Welcome to Bloxburg and Shindo Life ranked among the many Prime 10 Most Visited Experiences within the USA, whereas Membership Roblox popped up within the Prime 10 Most Visited Experiences in the UK and Germany. Tower of Distress drew in customers from Germany. And Anime Fighters Simulator, which launched in 2021, featured within the high rankings in Brazil. In the meantime, within the APAC market, Japanese customers’ visits pushed experiences like Escape Working Head and Twilight Daycare into their high 10, whereas South Korea’s high 10 consists of Islands and options King Legacy because the second most visited expertise after BedWars.
Lastly, the listing of nations the place folks spent essentially the most time connecting and creating on the platform in 2021 displays Roblox’ standing as a significant social hub in sure markets. Presence on this listing signifies a minimum of a whole bunch of hundreds of thousands of hours spent on the platform, with the highest seven surpassing one billion hours.
WHERE ARE USERS 17+ SPENDING TIME ON ROBLOX?
Once we appeared on the totally different age teams on the platform (beneath 13, 13-17, and over 17) and their preferences in content material, we noticed some similarities, together with Brookhaven on the high throughout all age teams. Very similar to the platform, most of the in style experiences have aged up meaningfully between 2020 and 2021, including customers from the 17+ viewers. For instance, experiences on the listing of Prime 10 Most Visited on Roblox, comparable to All Star Tower Protection, Blox Fruits, and Shindo Life, had over 40% of their customers within the 17+ year-old group in 2021.
With our fastest-growing demographic being 17-to-24-year-olds, the Roblox developer group is tackling this increasing market with new content material updates and extra advanced experiences that includes gorgeous visuals and results. Contemplate, as an illustration, Deepwoken, a fantasy roleplaying journey targeted on unraveling mysteries, the fast-paced Driving Simulator, or the upcoming action-packed Rolling Thunder that builders teased in a demo. Experiences with extra aged-up content material like Phantom Forces and World // Zero even have over 40% of their followers within the 17+ class, whereas an expertise like Deepwoken has over 60% within the 17+ age group.
In 2021, we additionally noticed distinctive music artists and types create their very own experiences on the platform in partnership with Roblox, together with the Twenty One Pilots live performance and the surreal Gucci Backyard expertise, and the huge skate park in Vans World. Some builders are additionally instantly collaborating with manufacturers which have a mass enchantment, particularly with these older customers. For instance, in partnership with NASCAR, builders of Jailbreak held a artistic contest the place the group had the chance to design digital NASCAR skins after which drive these automobiles within the expertise.
Whereas the entire model accomplice occasions hosted in 2021 noticed nice success with hundreds of thousands of visits and practically a 3rd (or extra) visits from our 17+ yr outdated viewers, the highest 5 occasions that engaged over 30% of holiday makers within the 17+ age group have been:
In 2021, roughly 2.5 billion chat messages have been despatched and 17 million friendships have been made on Roblox day by day.*
*Measured on lively customers on a consultant, randomly chosen day (12/20/21)
HOW DO ROBLOX USERS EXPRESS THEMSELVES?
Roblox is dedicated to making sure a various, inclusive, and respectful group that’s welcoming of everybody, no matter their identification and beliefs. Our imaginative and prescient is that on Roblox folks might be whoever they wish to be—our customers’ journey begins with creating a singular digital identification that they take all over the place they go on the platform, with limitless alternatives for self-expression, physique shapes, hair, equipment, and clothes from the Roblox Avatar Market. Digital identification is essential to our group, and we see this within the selection and variety of gadgets created, acquired, and worn on the platform.
In 2021:
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25 million+ digital gadgets have been created by the Roblox group.
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5.8 billion+ digital gadgets (each free and paid) acquired acquired.
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165 billion+ avatar updates have been carried out.
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1 in 5 day by day lively customers up to date their avatar on any given day.
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Most updates included physique and face, adopted by equipment.
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We additionally see an important range of digital identities chosen by customers on the platform: a feminine character Linlin leads the listing of the Most Acquired Avatar Bundles in 2021, the place 5 out of 10 are feminine characters.
TOP 10 MOST ACQUIRED AVATAR BUNDLES IN 2021
- Linlin
- Junkbot
- Knights of Redcliff: Paladin
- Denny
- Dennis
- Metropolis Life Girl
- ROBLOX Woman
- Oliver
- Lindsey
- Cindy
Trying on the top-selling Roblox Avatar Market gadgets from our user-generated content material (“UGC”) creators, the highest 10 is dominated by informal put on like T-shirts, comparable to these enjoyable Wolf & Moon and Flaming Dragon kinds. As for the top-selling 3D gadgets, they embrace a artistic number of equipment and digital objects like Shadowed Head and BubbleGum Sweet, which have been among the many most bought in 2021. Reflecting on real-life developments, group members purchased a wide range of face masks to put on on their avatar, with the #2 most bought merchandise being a black Medical Masks and #5 being a white Medical Masks. Each gadgets have been made by the identical creator, who inspired group members to “keep secure and unfold consciousness about how a lot masks could make an impression.”
TRENDS IN THE DEVELOPER AND CREATOR COMMUNITY
Our creator group comes from 170 nations and represents folks from all walks of life, very totally different cultural backgrounds, and demographics, which is mirrored within the content material created on the platform. This group has already develop into a driving power in pioneering a extra inclusive metaverse, and it’s unimaginable to see a triple-digit proportion surge yr over yr within the variety of new creators which have used our free immersive creation engine Roblox Studio for the primary time. The general share of feminine creators (based mostly on the variety of lively Studio customers) can also be growing. We noticed this pattern speed up through the pandemic when the expansion within the variety of first-time feminine customers of Roblox Studio surpassed the already important development of Studio use by new male creators.
In 2021, the variety of new feminine creators utilizing Roblox Studio for the primary time grew 353% yr over yr — in comparison with 323% development for brand spanking new male creators.
There are particular elements of the world the place we’re beginning to see hubs with excessive concentrations of Roblox builders, who construct experiences, and creators, who make avatar gadgets. Whereas it might not be an enormous shock to see the USA topping the listing, Brazil is second in each developer and creator numbers, and Russia and the Philippines observe proper behind (forward of the UK, Germany, and Canada). South Korea exhibits up within the high 10 listing of nations with essentially the most builders, whereas Thailand is among the many nations with essentially the most UGC creators, and Turkey and Mexico are current on each.
COUNTRIES WITH THE LARGEST NUMBER OF DEVELOPERS AND CREATORS
- United States
- Brazil
- Russia
- Philippines
- United Kingdom
- Germany
- Canada
- Mexico
- Turkey
- South Korea
- United States
- Brazil
- Philippines
- Russia
- United Kingdom
- Thailand
- Mexico
- Canada
- Germany
- Turkey
The highest-selling UGC creators come from the U.S., Spain, Australia, Denmark, and Mexico. The highest 10 creators who made the biggest variety of gadgets in 2021 (which implies a whole bunch of things made in a single yr) embrace creators from the Netherlands and Brazil, along with the U.S.
We’re additionally seeing that creators in many areas comparable to Thailand and Brazil usually tend to combine their information of native developments and tradition into their UGC gadgets. Thus, they’re increasing the methods our group members from world wide can specific themselves in a approach that’s related to them.
HOW DO CONTENT PREFERENCES ON THE PLATFORM DIFFER BY GENDER?
Once we take a look at the kinds of experiences that customers of various gender identities get pleasure from on the platform, we see role-playing experiences being in style throughout all teams (with a minimum of two such experiences throughout all high 10s). Brookhaven is the #1 most visited expertise for each female and male customers (customers who selected to specify their gender as both male or feminine on the platform), in addition to for the ten% of our customers who both don’t determine as male or feminine, or didn’t choose a selected gender choice (which is non-obligatory on Roblox).
Motion-packed experiences have been very talked-about amongst male customers, as have been simulators—comprising two of the highest 5 genres—and a few technique experiences. Feminine style preferences have been dominated by role-playing experiences (with 3 of the highest 5 genres within the class), and our feminine group members additionally get pleasure from platformer/obby experiences, sandbox/constructing experiences, tycoons, and a few motion experiences like survival and homicide thriller the place individuals are given totally different roles in a gaggle, primarily consisting of harmless and evil characters making an attempt to finish their very own missions to be able to win.
The highest 10 rating for the group that didn’t specify their gender is distinct from the female and male lists. For instance, each Royale Excessive (excessive rating for females) and Blox Fruits (excessive rating for males) made it to the highest 5, and Homicide Thriller 2 ranked larger than it did on both the male or feminine lists.
TOP 10 MOST VISITED BY GENDER
As we head into the brand new yr, we sit up for seeing what developments will emerge subsequent. With tens of hundreds of thousands of day by day lively customers creating and sharing experiences on Roblox, there are boundless alternatives for progressive concepts that may form our future in methods we are able to solely think about.
