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Stefano Corazza is sure Roblox helps kids sustain their lives and learn valuable skills for their future careers.
Image credit: Roblox
Roblox is known for the opportunities it provides for creators: they can not only make games there but also monetize them. Another thing it's famous for is its young audience – children love this game, and its tools allow them to sell their creations for in-game currency, Robux. The studio then takes a portion of that money for itself.
Due to this, Roblox has been accused of exploiting child labor. In 2021, for example, People Make Games conducted an investigation about its practices, and then, the company was sued over allegations that it is "exploiting child labor and offering children nearly worthless digital currency for their labor" (via PC Gamer.)
Roblox Studio head Stefano Corazza is aware of the issue, of course, and has his own vision.
"You can say, 'Okay, we are exploiting, you know, child labour,' right? Or, you can say: we are offering people anywhere in the world the capability to get a job, and even like an income," he told Eurogamer. "So, I can be like 15 years old, in Indonesia, living in a slum, and then now, with just a laptop, I can create something, make money and then sustain my life."
Image credit: Roblox
Corazza might admit it out loud but he actually doesn't believe young creators think they're taken advantage of at all.
"For them, you know, hearing from their experience, they didn't feel like they were exploited! They felt like, 'Oh my god, this was the biggest gift, all of a sudden I could create something, I had millions of users, I made so much money I could retire.' So I focus more on the amount of money that we distribute every year to creators, which is now getting close to like a billion dollars, which is phenomenal."
He might be right, but "children don't think they're exploited, so it's fine" is a wild take.
Then again, it is a great opportunity for kids to earn their own money, and the issue people have with Roblox's practices is not income but the cut it takes for work it doesn't do. It's a common sight in the adult world, but I can see why some parents see it as exploitation.
However, you can't deny this labor brings valuable fruit for children (aside from getting used to adult customs):
"And imagine like, the millions of kids that learn how to code every month," Corazza said. "We have millions of creators in Roblox Studio. They learn Lua scripting [a programming language], which is pretty close to Python – you can get a job in the tech industry in the future, and be like, 'Hey, I'm a programmer,' right?"
Corazza says Roblox is focusing on learning "and really bringing people on and empowering them to be professionals." Moreover, as the PR representative present during the interview added, "the vast majority of people that are earning money on Roblox are over the age of 18."
Additionally, a Roblox spokesperson told us in an email that the average age for top earning and/or engaging developers is around 25 years old, and in 2023, "more than 90% of the top 1,000 experiences by hours engaged in were owned by developers who were at least 18 years old."
You can think what you want about Roblox's approach, but the company did pay out $741 million to content creators in 2023, so it's not so bad after all.
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