In-game spending in Roblox continues to decline

gamedeveloper.com:

Roblox Corp.'s financial results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2022 have revealed that in-game spending (referred to as "bookings" in the financial world) dropped four percent year-over-year. That's the second quarter in a row where that key metric has nudged downward.

In the bigger financial picture, Roblox still has a lot going for it. During the three-month period ending June 30, 2022, its overall revenue rose 30 percent year-over-year to $591.2 million, and the average number of daily active users (DAUs) rose 21 percent year-over-year to 52.2 million.

But neither of those shiny numbers can distract from the decline in bookings. In Q2, Roblox only earned $639.9 in bookings, a decline of four percent from the same quarter in 2021.

That means Roblox Corp. is bringing in more players, but those players aren't spending as much in-game. The company's stock value dipped 15 percent from $47 per share to $40 per share in after-hours trading. That's a smaller drop than we saw back in February, but it still reflects market wariness about Roblox's financial future.

Roblox Corp. regularly provides key metrics from the month following quarter-end to help investors (and journalists) learn about how the company is doing right now. In July, revenue rose about 25 percent to $205 million, and bookings rose between 8 and 10 percent, pegged at somewhere between $243-$247 million.

DAUs continued to rise, going up 25 percent to 58.5 million from July of 2021.

Roblox Corp. reported a consolidated net loss of $178.7 million, which means it lost 24 percent more money than in Q2 of 2021.

But the story of Roblox still isn't one defined by its losses. Its rapid growth of (young) players and high in-game spending are still what drive investment