Virtual goods are a major part of digital play, from avatar items and virtual currencies to loot boxes and other in-game purchases. Roblox reported $4,369.1 million in bookings during full-year 2024, while UK survey data shows how widely young people recognize and use virtual items.
Contents
- Roblox’s virtual-goods economy
- Users, payers, and engagement
- Bookings per user and payer
- UK youth awareness and use
- How young people pay
- Creator earnings from the virtual economy
Roblox’s virtual-goods economy
Roblox’s reported bookings provide one of the clearest measures of spending connected to virtual goods. The company says substantially all bookings come from sales of virtual currency that can be converted into virtual items. Bookings therefore describe the value of purchases made during the period, while revenue is the amount Roblox reported as revenue under its accounting approach.
Roblox reported $3,602.0 million in revenue and $4,369.1 million in bookings for full-year 2024. The company also reported $919.0 million in revenue and $1,128.5 million in bookings for the third quarter of 2024.
The following periods show the reported quarterly figures available in the source releases:
| Period | Revenue | Bookings |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2024 | $919.0 million | $1,128.5 million |
| Q1 2025 | $1,035.2 million | $1,206.7 million |
| Q2 2025 | $1,080.7 million | $1,437.6 million |
Roblox reported $1,035.2 million in revenue and $1,206.7 million in bookings for the first quarter of 2025. In the second quarter of 2025, revenue was $1,080.7 million and bookings were $1,437.6 million. These are period-specific company figures and should not be treated as a complete measure of every virtual-goods market worldwide. Roblox Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results; Roblox Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial Results; Roblox Reports Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results; Roblox Reports Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results
Users, payers, and engagement
The scale of Roblox’s virtual economy sits alongside a large active audience. Roblox averaged 82.9 million daily active users in full-year 2024 and 73.5 billion hours engaged during that year. For the fourth quarter of 2024, it averaged 88.9 million daily active users and 19.1 million monthly unique payers.
The company reported higher audience and payer measures in the first half of 2025. Daily active users averaged 97.8 million in Q1 2025 and 111.8 million in Q2 2025. Monthly unique payers averaged 20.2 million in Q1 and 23.4 million in Q2.
For context, Roblox averaged 77.7 million daily active users and 15.6 million monthly unique payers in Q1 2024. The Q1 2025 release reported 21.7 billion hours engaged, while the Q2 2025 release reported 27.4 billion hours engaged. The Q3 2024 release reported 20.7 billion hours engaged.
These measures describe different aspects of the platform. Daily active users indicate the average number of users active each day; monthly unique payers count distinct paying users in a month. Neither measure says that every active user bought a virtual item. The separate payer figures make that distinction important when interpreting the size of the purchasing audience. Roblox Reports First Quarter 2024 Financial Results; Roblox Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results; Roblox Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial Results; Roblox Reports Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results; Roblox Reports Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results
Bookings per user and payer
Roblox also reports average bookings per daily active user and average bookings per monthly unique payer. These indicators help distinguish broad platform scale from spending among users counted as payers.
| Period | Bookings per daily active user | Bookings per monthly unique payer |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 2024 | $11.89 | $19.68 |
| Q3 2024 | $12.70 | $19.70 |
| Q4 2024 | $15.97 | $23.97 |
| Q1 2025 | $12.34 | $19.92 |
| Q2 2025 | $12.86 | $20.48 |
The reported average bookings per daily active user were $11.89 in Q1 2024, $12.70 in Q3 2024, $15.97 in Q4 2024, $12.34 in Q1 2025, and $12.86 in Q2 2025. Average bookings per monthly unique payer were $19.68, $19.70, $23.97, $19.92, and $20.48 in those same periods.
These are averages reported by Roblox, not a statement that each person spent those amounts. The daily-active-user measure includes users who did not pay, while the monthly-payer measure is calculated across the payer group. The measures also refer to bookings rather than a standalone price for avatar items. Roblox Reports First Quarter 2024 Financial Results; Roblox Reports Third Quarter 2024 Financial Results; Roblox Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2024 Financial Results; Roblox Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial Results; Roblox Reports Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results
UK youth awareness and use
UK Gambling Commission surveys show that virtual goods are familiar to many young people, while separating awareness from personal use. In the commission’s 2024 survey, 68% were aware that they could pay for in-game items or mods, and 46% had personally done so. Awareness of paying to open loot boxes, packs, or chests was 63%, compared with 27% who had personally paid to open them.
The same 2024 survey found that 37% were aware they could bet with in-game items on outside websites. Four percent had gambled with in-game items on websites outside the game. This is a distinct activity from buying an avatar or other virtual item and should not be combined with ordinary virtual-goods purchases.
The 2025 UK Gambling Commission survey reported higher awareness for several forms of virtual-item activity. Eighty percent were aware of buying virtual items with their own money, and 80% were aware of buying virtual items with in-game money without spending their own money. Awareness of opening virtual surprise boxes with in-game money was 77%, while awareness of opening them with their own or a parent or carer’s money was 73%.
Reported personal use in the 2025 survey was 64% for buying virtual items with in-game money without spending real money and 60% for buying virtual items with their own, parent, or carer’s money. The 2024 and 2025 figures come from separate survey releases and should be read with their stated survey years rather than treated as a continuous time series. Young People and Gambling 2024: Official statistics - Paying for and betting with in-game items in video games; Young People and Gambling 2025: Official statistics - Gaming
How young people pay
Among UK young people who paid for in-game items or mods in the 2024 survey, 57% used a gift card. Fifty-six percent used virtual currency bought with money, 52% used money from their own bank account, 49% used virtual currency obtained without spending money, and 36% used money from someone else’s bank account.
The categories describe reported payment methods among a defined group; they are not mutually exclusive, so their percentages should not be added. A player could have used more than one method. The results also show that virtual currency can be part of the payment path whether it was purchased or obtained without spending money.
Among UK young people who paid to open loot boxes in 2024, 58% used virtual currency obtained without spending money. Fifty-four percent used virtual currency bought with money, 51% used money from their own bank account, and 50% used a gift card. This loot-box group is narrower than the group who paid for in-game items or mods, so the figures should be kept separate.
| 2024 UK group and method | Reported share |
|---|---|
| In-game items or mods: gift card | 57% |
| In-game items or mods: purchased virtual currency | 56% |
| In-game items or mods: own bank account | 52% |
| Loot boxes: virtual currency obtained without spending | 58% |
| Loot boxes: purchased virtual currency | 54% |
| Loot boxes: gift card | 50% |
Creator earnings from the virtual economy
Virtual goods can also generate income for creators whose experiences and items contribute to platform activity. Roblox creators earned a record $281.6 million in the first quarter of 2025, according to the company’s Q1 2025 financial-results release.
More than 100 Roblox developers had each earned over $1 million during the 12 months reported with the first-quarter 2025 results. The company also said its community was on pace to exceed $1 billion in creator earnings for full-year 2025. That figure was a company outlook, not a completed measurement, so it should be labeled as a forecast rather than presented as actual annual earnings.
Together, the figures show several layers of the virtual-goods economy: platform bookings connected substantially to virtual currency, a large active audience, a smaller group of monthly unique payers, and creator earnings distributed through the ecosystem. The available figures are primarily Roblox company disclosures and UK youth survey results; they do not establish a global total for all virtual goods or all game platforms. Roblox Reports First Quarter 2025 Financial Results