Minecraft
Minecraft is a sandbox survival game released in 2011 and has been dubbed the “best selling video game of all time” with almost 130 million monthly active users. The game is wildly popular with its social media, merchandise, and Minecon conventions. It is also used in education to teach computer-aided design (CAD), computer science, and chemistry and has several spin-off games. It used an early access model to increase sales before the full release version to help fund development. In 2014 Microsoft bought Mojang ( the developer company) and Minecraft intellectual property for $2.5 billion.
The game has several modes like Survival Mode, Hardcore, Creative, Adventure, and Spectator Mode. Minecraft Marketplace is a way to find and purchase community-made content from within the game by using a digital currency called my Coins or Tokens (for PlayStation users). This virtual currency cannot be earned through in-game activities.
Some products available for purchase are – Texture Packs, Skin Packs, Adventure Maps, Mini-Games, Survival Spawns, and Mashup Packs from community creators, who get reimbursed for their creations.
Mine coins can be purchased online platforms like Windows, iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle, Oculus Rift, Xbox One, Nintendo, and real-world stores. One can also purchase gift cards and redeem them. Once purchased, Minecoins cannot be converted back to real currency. They are only available on the account where they were purchased and cannot be gifted from one account to another. However, Minecoin gift cards can be purchased and gifted to another person.
Roblox
Roblox is an online game platform that allows users to program games and play games created by other users. The game began to gain popularity in 2010. It is a free-to-play game with in-game purchases with a virtual currency called Robux. The game has over 164 million monthly active users, the majority being children under the age of 16 in the United States.
Due to quarantining which limited social interaction, Roblox gained popularity as a way for children to communicate with each other, especially the phenomenon of holding birthday parties on the platform. Like other stakeholders of the gaming industry, this game also saw a substantial increase in both revenue and the number of players during the pandemic lockdown when people were forced to remain indoors and thus spent more time playing video games.
Users can create their games using Roblox Studio which other players can play. They can also create purchasable content which can be one-time buys called Game Passes or can be bought more than once called Developer Products. The majority of the games are produced by minors – a total of about 20 million games are produced each year using Roblox Studio.
Roblox has its currency called Robux which you can buy to spend on experiences on items for the avatars. Game creators and developers can earn Robux by creating engaging experiences and items users want to purchase. They can then convert these into real-world currency or recirculate them into the Roblox economy by spending as consumers.
