Roblox Corporation
RBLX · NYSE
Next quarter
Reports Oct 29, 2026, after the close.
Consensus is -$0.41 EPS for Sep 2026 across 8 estimates, ranging -$0.47 to -$0.28.
RBLX Jun 2026
- 21.21%
- -26.85%
- -$0.33
- -$0.26
- —
- $1.47B
Reported results
- $1.47B
- 80.12%
- -$229.00M
- -15.59%
- -$183.00M
- -$0.26
Highlights
- Revenue: Q2 revenue rose 36% year over year to $1.469 billion, up from $1.081 billion in Q2 2025 and $1.44 billion in Q1 2026.
- Bookings: Bookings increased 8% year over year to $1.557 billion, at the low end of guidance as monetization per hour declined among younger users in the U.S. and Canada.
- Earnings: Diluted EPS was $(0.26), ahead of the $(0.33) consensus estimate, while net loss attributable to common stockholders narrowed to $183 million from $278 million a year ago and $246 million in Q1.
- Engagement: DAUs grew 10% year over year to 123 million and hours engaged rose 5% to 29 billion; Russia’s reinstatement late in June was a modest sequential benefit but a roughly three-point year-over-year headwind.
- Cash generation: Operating cash flow increased 60% year over year to $318 million and free cash flow rose 66% to $294 million, leaving cash, cash equivalents and investments of $6.1 billion.
- Profitability: Adjusted EBITDA improved to $152 million from $18 million a year earlier, despite continued investment in infrastructure, trust and safety, AI and headcount.
- Outlook: Roblox expects Q3 revenue of $1.413 billion to $1.490 billion, up 4% to 10% year over year, but bookings of $1.576 billion to $1.653 billion, down 14% to 18%, with monetization softness expected to persist.
- Capital allocation: The company repurchased 8.2 million shares for $380 million in Q2 under a $3 billion authorization, with $2.6 billion remaining.
Analysis
Roblox’s Q2 was a strong GAAP revenue and cash-flow quarter, but a weaker bookings and monetization print. Revenue of $1.469 billion grew 36% year over year from $1.081 billion and increased about 2% sequentially from $1.44 billion in Q1. Diluted EPS of $(0.26) beat the $(0.33) consensus estimate by $0.07, while net loss attributable to common stockholders improved to $183 million from $278 million a year ago and $246 million in the prior quarter. Operating loss narrowed to $229 million from $322 million a year ago and $294 million in Q1.
The central issue was the gap between engagement and monetization. DAUs reached 123 million, up 10% year over year, and hours increased 5% to 29 billion, but bookings grew only 8% to $1.557 billion. Management attributed the shortfall to engagement shifting away from high-monetizing viral games, changes to the Recommended for You algorithm that favor longer-term retention, and the removal of cross-experience game-pass sales. Roblox is accepting near-term pressure while investing in age checks, safety, AI creation tools, discovery and older-user content. Q3 guidance makes the trade-off explicit: revenue is expected to grow 4% to 10%, while bookings decline 14% to 18% and free cash flow ranges from negative $60 million to positive $5 million.
Bookings and monetization
Bookings were $1.557 billion, up 8% year over year from $1.438 billion. The result was at the low end of the company’s guidance range, despite strong payer growth: average monthly unique payers rose 15% to 27 million, while payers outside the U.S. and Canada increased 23%. The issue was not primarily audience scale, but lower monetization of engagement.
- Mix shift: Management said users moved from high-monetizing 2025 viral games toward newer and evergreen games with lower hourly monetization, particularly among younger cohorts in the U.S. and Canada.
- Discovery trade-off: The updated Recommended for You algorithm evaluates behavior over 28 days rather than seven and prioritizes retention signals such as play-through and first-play bounce rates. Roblox said early testing showed improved long-term retention and engagement, but the near-term monetization impact was larger than expected.
- Creator economics: Developer Exchange fees rose 15% year over year to $363 million, faster than bookings, reflecting the 8.5% increase in creator payouts announced in September 2025 and the higher cost of the Creator Rewards program.
Audience and content breadth
Engagement remained resilient against difficult comparisons. DAUs rose 10% year over year to 123 million and hours engaged increased 5% to 29 billion. International markets were the main growth engine: DAUs in Japan and India rose 67% and 64%, respectively, while U.S. and Canada DAUs grew 6%. Russia was reinstated in June, helping sequential trends but reducing reported year-over-year DAU and hours growth by roughly three percentage points.
- Content diversification: Experiences outside the top 10 delivered 25% year-over-year hours growth and more than 20% growth in Robux spend. The top 10 games represented about 20% of hours, down from 30% three years ago.
- Older users: U.S. over-18 DAUs grew 32% and hours grew 27%; the 18–34 cohort grew 42% in DAUs and 37% in hours. These users monetize more than 50% above under-18 users.
- Platform expansion: Roblox is adding support for 2D, single-player, offline and turn-based games, while partnerships with established game developers are expected to produce launches later in 2026 and through 2027.
AI and platform investment
Roblox is using AI as a long-term content and infrastructure investment rather than a near-term margin lever. Build, now in public alpha in New Zealand for users aged nine and above, lets users create playable games from prompts in the mobile app. AI adoption among the top 1,000 and top 10,000 creators increased about 15 percentage points sequentially, and creators using the Studio Assistant rose 20% sequentially.
- Creator productivity: Creators generated more than 60,000 3D assets per day, and nearly 1,400 games used Cube-generated content daily.
- New capability: Roblox acquired Morpheus AI to support Roblox Reality, its multi-year effort to deliver interactive photorealistic gaming using real-time world models.
- Cost implication: Infrastructure and trust and safety expense increased 39% year over year to $363 million, partly due to AI investment, higher hosting and data-center costs, and additional safety-related marketing.
Safety and legal exposure
Age-check penetration reached 57% of global DAUs by quarter-end, with the U.S. and Australia above 70% and a long-term goal of 90%. Roblox Kids and Select accounts launched in June and now provide access to about 30,000 games, nearly 50% more than at launch. On-platform communications also began recovering after earlier age-check-related declines, with Global Chat reaching an average of 30 million daily messages in June.
- Regulatory cost: General and administrative expense rose 31% year over year to $199 million, including $34 million of legal settlement accruals and higher litigation-related professional fees.
- Settlements: Roblox had accrued $91 million in the first half for settlements and settlement discussions with states over youth-related consumer protection and digital safety matters.
- Ongoing uncertainty: Lawsuits had been filed by 10 states and Los Angeles County as of July 30, 2026. The company said it cannot reasonably estimate any additional loss or range of loss from the remaining matters.
Cash flow and outlook
Cash generation materially improved even as Roblox remained GAAP loss-making. Adjusted EBITDA rose to $152 million from $18 million a year ago, operating cash flow reached $318 million versus $199 million, and free cash flow was $294 million versus $177 million. The company ended June with $6.1 billion of cash, cash equivalents and investments, up $1.4 billion year over year.
- Q3 revenue: Guidance is $1.413 billion to $1.490 billion, implying 4% to 10% year-over-year growth because prior bookings continue to flow into GAAP revenue over an estimated 27-month paying-user life.
- Q3 bookings: Guidance is $1.576 billion to $1.653 billion, down 14% to 18% year over year, with monetization softness expected to continue despite sequentially higher DAUs.
- Q3 cash flow: Operating cash flow is expected at $110 million to $175 million and free cash flow at negative $60 million to positive $5 million, including $170 million of planned capital expenditures and a roughly $40 million working-capital headwind from creator-payout timing.
