In Business:

San Mateo firm’s array of games hugely popular with kids

San Mateo’s Roblox offers wide variety of games that are popular with homebound children.

For Petaluma resident Barry Torassa, 10, during the pandemic, video games built on Roblox have become his social life, his afterschool entertainment — and the main place he spends his birthday and chore money.

“You can play any game that you want or you can make a game that you like,” he said of the 3D virtual universe spawned by San Mateo’s Roblox. “You get to hang out with your friends.”

He named his avatar — a graphical character that represents him in the game —Faze Cewy. “He has

the same hair color as me but not the same clothes,” Torassa said. “He wears Gucci.”

He’s among millions of kids, largely ages 8 to 13, who flocked to Roblox when schools closed as a way to stay connected with their friends. Daily active users hit 31.1 million, up 82% for the nine months ended Sept. 30 compared with a year earlier, the company said.

That runaway popularity may have spurred Roblox — at 14, the company is a bit older than its typical user — to head to Wall Street, where it plans an initial public offering this month that would value it at $8 billion.

Roblox isn’t a single game but an immersive environment that hosts games of all different genres, as well as tools to write those games. It features millions of games crafted by some 7 million developers.

Playing is free, but users can buy ingame currency called Robux to give their avatars superpowers, customize their appearance and purchase vehicles and other gear. Roblox splits those revenues with developers. Users can also buy monthly subscriptions to give them a certain amount of Robux.

“It’s a wildly successful model for social gaming to make it free so you get everyone on it and so everyone wants to be on it,” said Robert Hendershott, a professor of finance at Santa Clara University. “You only have to sell a few dollars here and there. Kids want to get on because their friends are on it.”

Revenue was $349.9 million in the first nine months of 2020, up 68% from last year.

“All those ingame purchases of kids buying differentcolored hair, etc., added up,” said Scott Willis, director of research at Grizzle, a financial media website. “Roblox got a lot of cash in the door.”

Sarah Blanchard of Mill Valley has always been strict about screen time but her three daughters — 8yearold twins and an 11yearold — now all play Roblox to varying degrees.

“I was initially really against the kids playing it, but this is their generation’s version of video games and it is actually pretty cool,” she said. Parents at her kids’ school email each other to set up Roblox play days for their offspring.

Her kids use their allowance to buy special things, such as the Halloween Egg, only available on that holiday. “They had to give me actual dollar bills, then I log on and let them do it,” she said.

“They convinced me to break my rules so they could get their eggs.”

Cate, her 11yearold, said she likes trading pets in the game “Adopt Me,” one of the more popular Roblox games, and buying potions to make them rideable or able to fly or to change their looks. “My favorite animal is my turtle,” she said. “You get them out of eggs, but you don’t know what you’re going to get.”

Evan Doll of Palo Alto said Roblox games have been a main attraction during the pandemic for his sons, ages 7 and 9.

“It’s become a really important way for them to stay in touch with their friends and play with their friends,” he said. “It lets kids play on their own terms; there are a lot of games to choose from. A lot are like ones kids make up on the playground — they don’t always make sense to adults but have a certain internal logic that makes sense to kids.”

His sons have become more vigilant about saving their allowances so they can get superpowers or personalize their avatars.

“It’s a way for them to have some control and agency, which for kids is often in short supply, especially kids during a pandemic, who don’t have much control over anything,” Doll said.

“I was initially really against the kids playing it, but this is their generation’s version of video games.” Sarah Blanchard of Mill Valley

Photos by Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle

Sisters Annie (left), Lizzie and Cate Blanchard (shown in all photos) are engrossed with playing Roblox games at their home in Mill Valley.

Yalonda M. James / The Chronicle The rapt attention given to the Roblox games by the Blanchard sisters of Mill Valley illustrates their popularity with kids.