Less playtime, more revenue: Roblox’s $1.6 billion paradox
Roblox users spent less time playing, and fewer paid for purchases than a year earlier. Yet quarterly revenue rose 16% to nearly $1.6 billion, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The company’s October 29 shareholder letter shows how those trends can coexist.
Users spent nearly 34 billion hours on Roblox between July and September 2026. The platform averaged 138 million daily active users.
Together, those figures suggest roughly two hours and 40 minutes per daily active user. That estimate uses the company’s rounded figures across the quarter’s 92 days.
The scale remains enormous, but activity fell compared with the same period in 2025. Total hours declined 15%, while the daily audience shrank 9%.
Compared with the previous quarter, however, both measures recovered. Hours increased 17%, and daily active users rose 12%.
Why revenue rose while sales fell
Roblox recorded $1.572 billion in quarterly revenue, compared with $1.360 billion a year earlier.
Its bookings moved in the opposite direction, falling 12% to $1.697 billion. This measure tracks sales activity, mostly purchases of the platform’s virtual currency, Robux.
The difference comes partly from when Roblox records those purchases as revenue.
A virtual currency purchase counts toward bookings first. Roblox then recognizes much of that money as revenue over time.
That means earlier purchases can support today’s revenue even when current sales decline. Revenue and bookings are separate measures and cannot be added together.
Fewer paying users, higher spending per payer
Roblox averaged 30 million paying users each month, down 16% year over year. However, average bookings per monthly paying user increased 5%.
The company is also adjusting how it recommends games.
“In Q2’26, we began optimizing our Recommended for You (RFY) algorithm for long-term retention,” Roblox said.
Roblox said its Plus subscribers averaged twice the playtime of users without the subscription. They also spent seven times as much Robux.
Those comparisons describe subscriber behavior; they do not establish that subscribing caused higher spending.
The company also plans to introduce skippable video advertisements before gameplay.
Billion-dollar revenue, but still a loss
Roblox’s revenue growth did not produce a net profit. The company reported a $230 million quarterly loss, compared with $258 million a year earlier.
Developer Exchange expenses totaled $403 million. Through that program, eligible creators exchange earned Robux for real money.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency explored how Roblox’s “Grow a Garden” became popular among children in Kazakhstan.
