Gaming platform Roblox missed estimates for second-quarter bookings on Wednesday as waning demand for its online games and intensifying competition hurt growth, sending shares down 8% in trading before the bell.
The videogame industry is struggling with a slowdown in spending as high inflation forced gamers to pick and choose between popular titles as they tightened their purse strings. Roblox, which operates a metaverse – an emerging virtual space where people play games and make transactions – is available on mobile devices, desktops and Microsoft’s Xbox.
It reported 65.5 million daily users in the quarter, with a long-term goal of reaching 1 billion daily users.
The company, popular for games such as “Adopt Me!” and “Brookhaven”, posted net bookings of $780.7 million in the quarter, compared with analysts’ average estimate of $784.9 million, according to Refinitiv data.
Net loss attributable to shareholders stood at $282.8 million in the quarter, compared with $176.4 million, a year earlier.
