The 19-year-old game maker made tens of thousands of dollars thanks to Roblox

Girdler said that a friend invited him to try playing the newly released block game and that was how he got acquainted with the world of Roblox.

In 2011, when Girdler was just 9 years old, he started using his friend's computer to build small structures in the game, from houses, obstacles to many other interesting things. Two years later Jacob developed his own game on the Roblox platform called Two Player Secret Hideout Tycoon. The gamer's task when playing this game is to build an empire with only a small starting amount of money. However, at first no one played his game and the total number of participants after two years was only about 100 people.

It was not until 2016, after creating more than 200 games of all genres, that Jacob received his first payment from Roblox. He received $350 from player transactions on Two Player Secret Hideout Tycoon. 'That was my entire income in 2016. It was amazing,' Jacob said.

Then, by 2017, this game attracted more than 3,000 players. The guy started receiving an amount of 1750 to 2000 dollars per month from the game. However, this is only a small number compared to the gold mine game that Jacob later created. While in college, he created the game Obby Creator , which allows gamers to build anything they want and share them on Roblox. As soon as it was released, it was a hit and quickly reached 10,000 players at the same time.

He believes that the success of this game lies in its high customization ability, not depending too much on what he has put into the game. "Players participate and create something interesting. They want to continue building or share with friends and create the strange element together. Creativity contributes a lot," he said.

Obby Creator has reached nearly 250 million plays, and "swordfish" gives Jacob about $15,000 - $20,000 per month, according to data provided by Roblox.

Jacob often works alone when creating games, with only a few times when he recruits short-term collaborators to assist him. This 19-year-old game creator also paid his mother $1000 - $1500 per month to help him control the content gamers created on Obby Creator.

He is always surprised by the success he has achieved on Roblox because "it all just happened through the computer screen".

Samuel Daniel

Update 17 October 2023