• by Colin Kirkland , Yesterday

Amid growing safety concerns surrounding the platform's youngest users, Roblox exceeded analysts’ expectations in the first quarter of this year, increasing both revenue and user engagement by around 30% year-over-year.

The virtual gaming platform brought in just over $1 billion in Q1, marking a 29% year-over-year increase, while generating $444 million in net cash from operating activities -- an 86% YoY increase. 

Roblox ended the quarter with $3.5 in net liquidity and over $4.5 billion in cash, equivalents, and investments, while reporting a net loss of $215.4 million, compared to $270.8 million during the same quarter last year.

The company likens its positive results to two changes it made last year -- Price Optimization and Differential Pricing -- as well as its newly launched Regional Pricing feature that determines optimal prices for creators’ in-game items specific to local economies. Creators will soon be able to pair this tool with Price Optimization, which the company says has resulted in a median earnings increase of 4% for creators.

Notably, the gaming company’s user base also boomed over the past year, growing by millions more players than analysts expected.

In Q1, Roblox saw an increase of 26% in daily active users, raising the number to 97.8 million, and a 29% boost in monthly active users, which amounted to 20.2 million. 

As for engagement, the company also reported 21.7 billion hours spent on the platform – a 30% increase from last year.

Over the quarter, Roblox creators earned $281.6 million -- a new high -- and in the past year, over 100 Roblox creators earned more than $1 million. 

“In addition to our focus on raw performance and quality, investments in the virtual economy and search and discovery are driving growth in platform monetization, bookings, and creator earnings,” said Roblox CEO and founder David Baszucki.