Despite Meta pouring billions of dollars into an attempt to become the world’s #1 metaverse hub, Roblox and Fortnite continue to outclass it. Both games rely on a steady stream of new digital items from content creators–and are willing to pay those creators for what they make (and sell).
Fortnite just reported that it paid creators $352 million over the course of 2024. Now here comes Roblox to dwarf that amount: During its latest earnings call, it revealed that it paid creators $280 million in Q4 alone, bringing it to a total of nearly $930 million paid out in 2024.
“We are continuously investing in growing our economy to further expand opportunities for creators, from professional studios to individual content creators, digital clothing designers and brands–already estimated at nearly 18,000 full-time job equivalents just in the U.S. between 2017 and 2023,” Matt Curtis, Roblox‘s VP of Developer Relations, said on the call.
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Higher creator earnings from Roblox can be at least partially attributed to the one key difference between it and Fortnite: Fortnite started as a battle royale game (a competitor for something like Apex Legends) where all assets were developed by owner Epic Games. It only later graduated to having independent game developers make their own content on its sandbox mode Fortnite Creative.
Roblox, on the other hand, does not have a core in-house-developed game. It’s always been a platform for developers to create their own games and digital assets. That business model set it up for a pursuit of the metaverse–and to be a major contributor to the $250 billion creator economy.
Roblox takes a 30% cut of developers’ sales through its platform, so increasing creator earnings means increasing earnings for it, too.
Its Q4 revenue was $988.2 million, up 32% year-over-year. It also saw a 19% year-over-year increase in monthly active players, and now sits at 18.9 million.
As for how much time players are spending within creators’ Roblox games, the company said in Q4, it saw 18.7 billion “engaged” hours, up 21% year-over-year.
“Roblox had a strong 2024, driven by our commitment to innovation and community. We’re building a platform that goes beyond technology—it’s about fostering genuine connections. As we aim to support 10% of the global gaming content market, we’ll continue investing in our virtual economy, app performance, and AI-powered discovery and safety, empowering creators and enhancing the user experience,” founder/CEO David Baszucki said in a statement.
Roblox said it expects revenue to increase slightly to between $990 million and just over $1 billion for Q1 2025. We’ll be keeping a close eye on things to see if and how revenue upticks for creators–and whether Roblox really will be the future for creators in the metaverse.
