Roblox Tanked $9 Billion In A Single Day After The Company Admitted It Was Directing Fewer Kids Toward Viral Games That ‘Emphasize Short-Term Monetization’

https://kotaku.com/roblox-tanked-9-billion-in-a-single-day-after-the-company-admitted-it-was-directing-fewer-kids-toward-viral-games-that-emphasize-short-term-monetization-2000722002

249 points · 23 comments · view on lemmy.world

23 Comments

Airfried@piefed.social · 92 pts · 28d (6 replies)

If anyone needed any more evidence why investor driven companies should stay out of gaming.

pdxfed@lemmy.world · 48 pts · 28d

should stay out of gaming.

And education, health care, sports, food production, food consumption, technology, energy...Is anyone noticing a trend? This is the real Touch of Midas.

greasewizard@slrpnk.net · 28 pts · 28d

If anyone needed any more evidence why gamers should stay away from investor driven companies.

jaybone@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 28d (2 replies)

What should they be in control of then? That’s the default market hegemony.

We even have publicly traded utilities ffs. And of course medical care. Those would be the first places to start.

NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 28d

Founders?

A gaming studio will likely need investors unless its a small indie shop, but it can still be founder driven vs investor driven.

LePoisson@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 27d

What should they be in control of then? That’s the default market hegemony

Nothing. The default market hegemony is fucked.

THB@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 28d

There's a lot more than gaming I wish they would stay out of

BrilliantantTurd4361@sh.itjust.works · 59 pts · 28d

Capitalism is so fun.

Visstix@lemmy.world · 53 pts · 28d (1 reply)

Is this what they mean with "think of the children"? How can we monetize them?

jaybone@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 28d

It’s what the Epstein Class thinks about children.

Racoonwithbenefits@lemmy.zip · 46 pts · 28d (2 replies)
[ removed ]
SolSerkonos@piefed.social · 15 pts · 27d (1 reply)

There used to be some gems on there when it was much newer and I was younger. Nowadays? Pure godawful slop.

Dozzi92@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 27d

There's still some decent games, but you gotta really sift through shit. I only know because of my kids. I don't have an issue with them playing. I don't let them friend anyone (they don't know in real life), chat is dead, and when they play dumb games, they eventually come to the "this is dumb" conclusion, and I treat it like a learning experience.

themurphy@lemmy.ml · 42 pts · 27d (1 reply)

Investors are the poison of everything in every sector ever. It's never anything else but profit over insert everything else

daychilde@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 27d

Some investment is necessary. However, the focus we have on investors in the US is indeed poison. Stock buybacks are definitely poison and do nothing but enrich billionaires.

We need money out of politics and to solve wealth inequality - not to make everyone equal, but to make the rich actually pay their fair share and make sure we have social safety nets and living wages.

orclev@lemmy.world · 36 pts · 28d

So the company made their game marginally less shit which caused their revenue to dip very slightly and the stock markets reaction was "SELL!!!!!1!!!ONE!!!!!! THEY'RE GOING UNDER!!!". This is why we can't have nice things.

nucleative@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 28d (3 replies)

CEO is legally required to maximize shareholder returns. Replacement CEO incoming.

I guess it would be better to make Roblox a non profit but then how they gonna get in front of so many kids...?

Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz · 9 pts · 28d (1 reply)

Maximizing shareholder value also includes maximizing the non-tangible value of the Roblox brand (something that could be harmed by short-term cash grabs), but unfortunately many investors only think one quarter at a time.

Vorticity@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 27d

"One quarter at a time" is being generous I think. They think microsecond to microsecond a lot of the time because that's how you carve corners off of the market.

Squizzy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 27d

Not necessarily. Look at apple, they could sell everything they have, land, precious metals, stock, patents and have a bumber year beyond any market history and shareholders would get massive results. The CEO can make decisions that are not immediate.

razen@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 27d

They did good and got fucked, am i reading this right?

Abyssian@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 27d

It seems insane that a freemium pedophile hunting ground that relies on convincing unattended kids that worthless online items are things they should go look for their parents credit cards and buy as it's primary source of income was worth over $9 billion in the first place.

nullspace@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 27d

Doing the right thing is often the more treacherous path.

jumping_redditor@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 28d

everyone knows roblox will have a successor eventually, so long term sustainability of roblox is not an investors concern