If you’re a typical parent, every year when the holidays roll around you begin to wonder what might be the perfect gift for your kid. And those pre-teen to early teen years may be especially difficult, as your kids are especially receptive to ever-changing trends, fads, and pop culture touchpoints that you likely don’t have the time or energy to keep up with, much less understand. 

Well lucky for you, Santa CivicScience is here to lend a statistical hand to your holiday shopping challenges, and remind you that Robux could be a great gift for your digital-age little ones. 

And the data backs that up, because according to an updated CivicScience poll, 37% of the Gen Pop 18+ (that plays Roblox) spends at least $10 or more a month on the video game currency, slightly up from last year. 

But let’s take a step back, in case you’re confused about all of this. Roblox is a video game first developed and launched in the mid-2000s, that is free (more or less, we’ll get to that) and hosted online. Players use the Roblox platform to essentially create their own challenges, games, competitions, etc., that other players around the world can then play. It’s sort of like one big kitchen where everyone is cooking something for anyone else to taste. 

Robux is the in-game currency (it is not cryptocurrency…at least not yet) with which players can buy, trade, or sell items, abilities, equipment, clothes, and any number of other in-game resources that enhance gameplay. Robux can be purchased with regular money on the game platform or can be earned by designing and selling in-game purchases for other players (some players have earned nearly $100,000 a year doing so). 

This sort of microeconomy based on transactions and microtransactions certainly isn’t new to the video game industry. Many large game developers earn a significant amount of their revenue through $1 or less charges for in-game enhancements (Riot Games and Blizzard are two companies well-known for this type of business model). 

But what sets Roblox apart from other game developers is its appeal for younger children. And the data backs this up: while 14% of the age 13+ Gen Pop report playing the game, nearly a quarter (24%) of parents report their child(ren) playing it. 

Which just demonstrates that the playing demographic way over-indexes among younger players. 

These numbers, again, are relatively consistent from CivicScience’s 2021 report on Roblox, implying the game hasn’t seen much growth, but that its presence is also stable.

But, just like any other economy, the Roblox micro-economy expects a robust holiday season. So much so, that 12% of the Gen Pop 18+ (that is aware of Robux) plans to gift Robux this year. 

Parents of Robloxers, similarly, over-index (nearly 4X) in terms of likelihood to gift Robux for the holidays, which may be what is driving the numbers above. 

Perhaps this represents a strong advertising opportunity for brands to jump on the Roblox trend. A stable video game platform that appeals to the parents of young teens may be an ideal touchpoint for some industries.

Other insights from the data: 

  • Robux holiday gifters are much less worried about inflation in the U.S. 
  • Gifters are also more likely to have purchased an electronic device from Amazon in the past month

Want more holiday insights? Start here.