Roblox Players To Start Seeing Video Ads In Its Virtual Realms (reuters.com) 12
Roblox announced it'll be rolling out virtual billboards with video advertisements that will be displayed in its virtual worlds. Reuters reports: Users will now see billboards featuring content from brands such as e.l.f beauty, Walmart and Warner Bros Discovery, just as they would in real life. That would give advertisers access to Roblox's nearly 72 million daily active users -- half of whom are Gen-Z customers, a population group prized by marketers and businesses.
The company in November began testing the video ads -- that will be served to users who are 13 years and older -- as part of its efforts to reduce reliance on revenue generated from its in-game currency "Robux", which players can use to buy outfits, vehicles and other features inside the company's digital worlds. It charges a fee on all purchases done on its platform, which hosts millions of videogames that are built by its users -- who get a share of any related revenue.
That practice will extend to the ads, with creators of the virtual worlds who opt to show the billboards getting a portion of the revenue Roblox makes from them. Roblox is hoping its large Gen-Z user base will give it an edge in the competitive ad market, where it would have to wrestle for marketing dollars with tech giants such as Google and Meta and smaller players such as Snap.
The company in November began testing the video ads -- that will be served to users who are 13 years and older -- as part of its efforts to reduce reliance on revenue generated from its in-game currency "Robux", which players can use to buy outfits, vehicles and other features inside the company's digital worlds. It charges a fee on all purchases done on its platform, which hosts millions of videogames that are built by its users -- who get a share of any related revenue.
That practice will extend to the ads, with creators of the virtual worlds who opt to show the billboards getting a portion of the revenue Roblox makes from them. Roblox is hoping its large Gen-Z user base will give it an edge in the competitive ad market, where it would have to wrestle for marketing dollars with tech giants such as Google and Meta and smaller players such as Snap.
The enshittification continues (Score:3)
Also, WRF? When I play a game I do not want reality to intrude!
Re:Nobody wants this (Score:4, Insightful)
So stop playing. The only way to hurt a company is to hit their bottom line which means not playing the game (in this case) or not buying their product/service. Why is this so difficult to understand?
Re: (Score:2)
Not so easy to quit for kids whose friends at school all play the game, the topic of social conversation is often Roblox, they spend time together outside school playing together on Roblox, and ... yeah. "Just stop playing" is kind of the same as telling an obese person "just stop eating so much", there are probably mechanisms at play which makes it difficult/impossible for them to do just that.
Being a father - and also a teacher in high school - I get to see first hand how social media and these types of g
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I already don't use their product, so best I can do is complain about it on the internet, in the hopes of preserving future options. Else soon enough you'll get ads straight from your operating system, after that comes ad-operated doors but you can pay extra for "premium" doors with fewer ads.
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I agree that no players want this, but isn't roblox free to play? Making the player the product that is being sold?
Life imitating Futurama (Score:4, Funny)
My God... it's full of ads! [youtu.be]