Origins: From DynaBlocks to Roblox
It was a rainy winter in Menlo Park, 2004. In a small office, David Baszucki closed his worn-out laptop and looked at Erik Cassel. Both couldn’t forget the scenes from their earlier project, Interactive Physics, where students designed their own experiments.
“What if this ‘making’ could exist in 3D space, open to everyone?” Baszucki asked. Cassel smiled. “Then we don’t make the games ourselves — we build the platform so anyone can.”
By the end of the year, their prototype was called DynaBlocks. In 2005, the name evolved into Roblox, and by 2006 it was officially launched.
Early Roblox: A Sandbox for Creation
At first, Roblox was remarkably simple: blocky worlds, basic movements, and sandbox-style building tools. But the direction was clear. Instead of producing games themselves, Roblox provided the Roblox Studio engine and scripting capabilities.
The scripting language chosen was Lua, which later evolved into Luau, a custom language designed for fast execution, gradual typing, and large-scale collaboration. The philosophy of the language reflected the platform’s own: accessible creation at scale.
Monetization: The Rise of a Creator Economy
By the mid-2010s, Roblox recognized that its heartbeat was the community. The company refined its monetization through Robux, the virtual currency. Creators earned a share of revenue from in-game purchases and could convert Robux into real money via the DevEx program.
Since 2017, the conversion rate has been set at 1 Robux = $0.0035. For young teams, this meant more than pocket money — it meant the chance to build actual studios. Soon, thousands of small teams and solo developers turned Roblox into a full-fledged creative economy.
From Games to Experiences
The turning point came in November 2020, when Roblox hosted its first virtual concert. A giant avatar of the performer moved through a digital city, while players jumped and ran through the stage. One teenager pointed at his friend’s avatar: “We’re listening to the same song in the same space, right?”
After this, the word “experience” became central. Roblox was no longer just about games — it was about shared, interactive worlds.
A Public Company with a Unique Vision
On March 10, 2021, Roblox went public on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: RBLX) via direct listing. In employee chats, one simple message stood out: “Tomorrow, the studio will still be on.”
Going public was not just fundraising. It was translating the idea of a creator-driven ecosystem into the language of public markets.
Expanding Avatars and Fashion
In 2022, Layered Clothing launched, enabling clothing items to fit avatars of all shapes. Fashion brands and user-generated designers rushed in, creating rare and limited digital wearables with real-world-like scarcity.
Suddenly, “dressing technology” became big business.
Growing Beyond PC and Mobile
In 2023, Roblox officially launched on PlayStation (PS4/PS5), joining mobile, PC, and Xbox. For users, the question changed: “Where are you logging in from?” became simply: “See you on Roblox.”
Advertising, Social Features, and New Frontiers
By 2024, Roblox opened immersive ads for users aged 13+. These were not banners but portals into branded spaces, blending marketing with gameplay.
At the same time, features like Roblox Connect (avatar-based video calls) and group chats called Parties positioned Roblox as a social platform first, gaming second.
Scale and Responsibility
In Q1 2025, Roblox reported 97.8 million daily active users. The platform had become global, spanning time zones, cultures, and genres.
But with growth came challenges. Safety issues — given Roblox’s large under-13 user base — led to new policies: stricter identity verification, AI moderation, and limits on advertising to minors. Features like selfie-based age checks and Trusted Connections rolled out, but lawsuits and debates continued. As one board briefing put it: “Growth comes with responsibility.”
A Living Community
Despite challenges, creativity flourished daily. One moment, a roleplay world broke concurrency records. Another moment, developers debated Luau’s type system. Teachers even used Roblox Studio to blend coding and design in classrooms.
Baszucki often reflects on the beginning: DynaBlocks, the 2006 launch, the early buggy prototypes, and Cassel’s passing in 2013. “We started with two people, but Roblox today is built by millions of hands.”
And so, the next chapter will also begin the same way: someone uploads a new experience, another builds a tool beside it, and yet another connects the two worlds. That is Roblox.
By Roblox Corporation – Own work using: Roblox Corporation website, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122404124