Inside Grow a Garden, the Ridiculously Popular Roblox Game Made by a Teenager That Could Be Making as Much as $5 Million+/Month

Gamefile has a fascinating story on the rise of Grow a Garden, a simple farm simulation game made in Roblox originally created by a teenager, which is quite literally one of the most popular online games in the world. Seriously:

This morning, the game’s official page on Roblox, the platform from which it is launched, stated that there were 2,044,359 people playing it. Right at that moment. That’s higher than the current top game on Valve’s PC platform Steam, Counter-Strike 2, which peaked today at just under 1.7 million. It’s also higher than any Roblox game before it.

But how much money is it making? I checked with a Roblox insider last night, and they gave me a figure that made my jaw drop:

At least $5 million a month, but quite likely a lot more. And yes, they mean $5M/mo net, after Roblox the company takes its cut.

Why is it so successful? Writing for Gamefile, Nicole Carpenter points to the game's social virality and the recurring appeal of farm sims in online platforms:

If I want to steal a piece of fruit from another player’s garden, I can buy that ability for 35 Robux each time. “Stealing is a little goofy, viral moment,” Madsen said. “Most people make videos on YouTube stealing someone’s fruit.” Indeed, my TikTok page has shown me lots of these videos.) Prices go up from there for tools and pets...

"There's always a great farming game on every platform,” he said. (It’s true. Facebook had FarmVille; Stardew Valley has been huge for years; and Animal Crossing has seen success in that genre for decades.) “Building a farm is a really innate thing humans do. When I saw [Grow a Garden,] I was like, There's finally a good farming game on Roblox.

Janzen Madsen's studio Splitting Point took over lead development from the unnamed teen. While there's quite a few farm sim games in Second Life, it's curious that none of them have taken off with such virality. Maybe they should check out Grow a Garden.

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Comments

[Captain Fomo]

There's a lot of hate towards Roblox from some of the older virtual worlders we see, but it is a force to be reckoned with. Too bad it came 30 years too late, I would have been all over Roblox and what it provides for younger aspiring creators and programmers.