Apple earns close to $1 million per day from 'Roblox' game alone

Posted:
in iPhone edited June 2021
The social gaming platform "Roblox" is iPhone gaming's biggest earner with $3 million in revenue per day, and Apple gets 30% of that.

'Roblox' is a social gaming platform
'Roblox' is a social gaming platform


"Roblox" is a popular mobile game that lets users download and participate in "experiences." These experiences can vary from small levels or challenges to entire gaming worlds within the "Roblox" app.

According to data from Finbold, "Roblox" has positioned itself as the lead revenue generator on mobile platforms. Customers buy an in-app-currency called "Robux" to exchange for in-game items or costumes.

This simple model has driven players to spend more money in "Roblox" than in any other mobile game during 2021. As of June, the top ten grossing iPhone games in the app store generated $11.2 million per day in revenue, and "Roblox" is $3 million of that.

'Roblox' earns the most daily revenue by far. Image credit: Finbold
'Roblox' earns the most daily revenue by far. Image credit: Finbold


The distant second in the revenue generation is "Clash of Clans" at $1.8 million, then "Candy Crush Saga" at $1.4 million. The total revenue calculated for each game includes the purchase price of the game and in-app purchases.

Roblox recently went public on the stock market and reported $387 million in revenue. That number is a combination of gross revenue from the Apple App Store, Android Marketplace, other digital retailers, and Robux purchased from physical outlets.

Thanks to Apple's 30% take on each in-app purchase made on the platform, "Roblox" generates around $900,000 per day for the company. That income alone may be enough for Apple to overlook some of the flaws in "Roblox," including changing its description of "games" to "experiences" to avoid Apple's scrutiny.

This success replaces the gap left by the previous forerunner on mobile platforms, "Fortnite." After Epic Games broke the App Store rules and had "Fortnite" pulled from Apple platforms, a vacuum was left in mobile gaming. It seems "Roblox" has taken over as the top earner on iPhone thanks to its social aspects and in-app purchase ecosystem.

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 13
    omasouomasou Posts: 564member
    Perhaps Epic should review its CEO's contract. $900K/day is a whole lotta something compared to a whole lotta nothing.
    ronnqwerty52pscooter63zeus423watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 13
    winstoner71winstoner71 Posts: 114member
    My kids alone are probably responsible for $800k of that…or at least it feels that way ;) 
    jas99ronnzeus423MacProwatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 13
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    And this is why I don’t let my kids do in app purchases.

    or even download games that have them.
    edited June 2021 baconstangwatto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 13
    qwerty52qwerty52 Posts: 367member
    We are talking about the 900k earned by Apple, but in the same time, Roblox has also earned a pretty amount of 2,1 million per day.
    And that maybe wouldn’t be possible if the AppStore didn’t existed. So the business is going fairly and everybody is happy………..
    Wait…..sorry……, not everybody is happy………..I forgot Epic 
    edited June 2021 pscooter63zeus423Bombdoewatto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 13
    DovalDoval Posts: 40member
    Why are we penalizing or casting shade on a  company making money ? And protecting people privacy and doing things right way?

    are we in a communist or socialist country? I mean, I don’t like the previous   president but if we not careful, we will make him right on USA turning socialist!
    edited June 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 13
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,152member
    I have absolutely no problem with Apple making money here.  They built it, and the developers and consumers did come.  Before Apple, the store commission was much higher.  And brick and mortar stores higher again. Let me know when other on line stores reduce their standard cut.

    I just dislike in app purchases for frigging games.
    qwerty52DovalMacProwatto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 13
    fred1fred1 Posts: 1,112member
    I love (sarcasm) the way they said during the keynote today that “Apple has given over 230 billion dollars to developers so far.”  Uh, don’t you mean that the customers gave that money? I’m not arguing whether Apple’s take is fair or not, just don’t make it sound like the money came from Apple.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 8 of 13
    Doval said:
    Why are we penalizing or casting shade on a  company making money ? And protecting people privacy and doing things right way?

    are we in a communist or socialist country? I mean, I don’t like the previous   president but if we not careful, we will make him right on USA turning socialist!
    What are you going on about. No one is casting shade. Its a success story. Everyone is happy.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 13
    BombdoeBombdoe Posts: 56member
    qwerty52 said:
    We are talking about the 900k earned by Apple, but in the same time, Roblox has also earned a pretty amount of 2,1 million per day.
    And that maybe wouldn’t be possible if the AppStore didn’t existed. So the business is going fairly and everybody is happy………..
    Wait…..sorry……, not everybody is happy………..I forgot Epic 
    "Roblox has also earned a pretty amount of 2,1 million per day"

    yep - this part of the financial equation gets overlooked.  It's a win win for both parties. 
    qwerty52watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 13
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,299member
    ....

    Roblox recently went public on the stock market and reported $387 million in revenue. That number is a combination of gross revenue from the Apple App Store, Android Marketplace, other digital retailers, and Robux purchased from physical outlets.

    ....
    My math is struggling here. If they had $387million in revenue for the float then the maximum they could have generated for storefronts should only be $165million combined given they all have similar 30% cut. So timing wise Apple collection $1mill per day doesn't add up unless they massively increased turn-over post float. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 13
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,310moderator
    Bombdoe said:
    qwerty52 said:
    We are talking about the 900k earned by Apple, but in the same time, Roblox has also earned a pretty amount of 2,1 million per day.
    And that maybe wouldn’t be possible if the AppStore didn’t existed. So the business is going fairly and everybody is happy………..
    Wait…..sorry……, not everybody is happy………..I forgot Epic 
    "Roblox has also earned a pretty amount of 2,1 million per day"

    yep - this part of the financial equation gets overlooked.  It's a win win for both parties. 
    It's important to remember these are revenues:

    https://ir.roblox.com/news/news-details/2021/Roblox-Reports-First-Quarter-2021-Financial-Results/default.aspx

    Q1 2021 revenue = $387m, net loss $134m

    Assuming this revenue is from mobile or stores charging similar commission, if Roblox wasn't paying a 30% commission, their revenue would be $552m, which is $165m higher and the company would be profitable. But it's still up to them to price things and reduce costs so that they make profit.
    mattinoz said:
    ....

    Roblox recently went public on the stock market and reported $387 million in revenue. That number is a combination of gross revenue from the Apple App Store, Android Marketplace, other digital retailers, and Robux purchased from physical outlets.

    ....
    My math is struggling here. If they had $387million in revenue for the float then the maximum they could have generated for storefronts should only be $165million combined given they all have similar 30% cut. So timing wise Apple collection $1mill per day doesn't add up unless they massively increased turn-over post float. 
    This is quarterly revenue $1m x 90 days = $90m. Their filing says they made 35% of the total from iOS, 18% from Android:

    https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001315098/49ef63b1-32e4-4ba2-a0b4-e88bbac65f64.pdf

    0.35 x $387m = $135m, Apple's fee for that revenue would be $58m, which over 90 days is around $0.6m/day.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 12 of 13
    mattinozmattinoz Posts: 2,299member
    Marvin said:
    Bombdoe said:
    qwerty52 said:
    We are talking about the 900k earned by Apple, but in the same time, Roblox has also earned a pretty amount of 2,1 million per day.
    And that maybe wouldn’t be possible if the AppStore didn’t existed. So the business is going fairly and everybody is happy………..
    Wait…..sorry……, not everybody is happy………..I forgot Epic 
    "Roblox has also earned a pretty amount of 2,1 million per day"

    yep - this part of the financial equation gets overlooked.  It's a win win for both parties. 
    It's important to remember these are revenues:

    https://ir.roblox.com/news/news-details/2021/Roblox-Reports-First-Quarter-2021-Financial-Results/default.aspx

    Q1 2021 revenue = $387m, net loss $134m

    Assuming this revenue is from mobile or stores charging similar commission, if Roblox wasn't paying a 30% commission, their revenue would be $552m, which is $165m higher and the company would be profitable. But it's still up to them to price things and reduce costs so that they make profit.
    mattinoz said:
    ....

    Roblox recently went public on the stock market and reported $387 million in revenue. That number is a combination of gross revenue from the Apple App Store, Android Marketplace, other digital retailers, and Robux purchased from physical outlets.

    ....
    My math is struggling here. If they had $387million in revenue for the float then the maximum they could have generated for storefronts should only be $165million combined given they all have similar 30% cut. So timing wise Apple collection $1mill per day doesn't add up unless they massively increased turn-over post float. 
    This is quarterly revenue $1m x 90 days = $90m. Their filing says they made 35% of the total from iOS, 18% from Android:

    https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001315098/49ef63b1-32e4-4ba2-a0b4-e88bbac65f64.pdf

    0.35 x $387m = $135m, Apple's fee for that revenue would be $58m, which over 90 days is around $0.6m/day.
    So the headline is wrong by almost 100%
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 13 of 13
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,310moderator
    mattinoz said:
    Marvin said:
    Bombdoe said:
    qwerty52 said:
    We are talking about the 900k earned by Apple, but in the same time, Roblox has also earned a pretty amount of 2,1 million per day.
    And that maybe wouldn’t be possible if the AppStore didn’t existed. So the business is going fairly and everybody is happy………..
    Wait…..sorry……, not everybody is happy………..I forgot Epic 
    "Roblox has also earned a pretty amount of 2,1 million per day"

    yep - this part of the financial equation gets overlooked.  It's a win win for both parties. 
    It's important to remember these are revenues:

    https://ir.roblox.com/news/news-details/2021/Roblox-Reports-First-Quarter-2021-Financial-Results/default.aspx

    Q1 2021 revenue = $387m, net loss $134m

    Assuming this revenue is from mobile or stores charging similar commission, if Roblox wasn't paying a 30% commission, their revenue would be $552m, which is $165m higher and the company would be profitable. But it's still up to them to price things and reduce costs so that they make profit.
    mattinoz said:
    ....

    Roblox recently went public on the stock market and reported $387 million in revenue. That number is a combination of gross revenue from the Apple App Store, Android Marketplace, other digital retailers, and Robux purchased from physical outlets.

    ....
    My math is struggling here. If they had $387million in revenue for the float then the maximum they could have generated for storefronts should only be $165million combined given they all have similar 30% cut. So timing wise Apple collection $1mill per day doesn't add up unless they massively increased turn-over post float. 
    This is quarterly revenue $1m x 90 days = $90m. Their filing says they made 35% of the total from iOS, 18% from Android:

    https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001315098/49ef63b1-32e4-4ba2-a0b4-e88bbac65f64.pdf

    0.35 x $387m = $135m, Apple's fee for that revenue would be $58m, which over 90 days is around $0.6m/day.
    So the headline is wrong by almost 100%
    It depends, this article references a source using estimated revenues. A lot of estimates are based on usage tracking.

    Reported earnings show an average, which also isn't entirely accurate for daily earnings. If usage is growing, it could have grown to around a peak of $0.9m/day while the average is $0.6m/day.
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