Roblox head calls game a “gift” to children that can lift them from “slums”

The head of Roblox studio, Stefano Corazza, said in an interview that because of the game, children “living in a slum” can make a living from their laptops.

Roblox is one of the most popular online games and has enabled countless users to create games and play all kinds of titles on their various servers. However, the game has come under fire for its alleged exploitative practices when it comes to child labor and its payment structure within the game.

In an interview with Eurogamer from GDC 2024, the game’s head, Corazza, said that children making money on the Roblox platform isn’t exploitation, but a gift.

“Our average game developer is in their 20s. But of course, there’s people that are teenagers – and we have hired some teenagers that had millions of players on the platform. 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 told Eurogamer.

The Roblox boss also said that people can say that “we are exploiting child labor,” or they could have a softer look at the game’s setup with its users.

“Or, you can say: we are offering people anywhere in the world the capability to get a job, and even like an income. 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,” Corazza said.

The interview has made its way to social media and multiple accounts have called out the Roblox head for his comments.

“This is maybe the most insanely evil thing I’ve ever heard from anyone in video games,” one X user said.

So far, not many people online seem to have the same rosy view of Roblox’s business practices that Corazza has.