Roblox misses quarterly expectation for bookings
FILE PHOTO: A child looks back at a banner for Roblox, displayed to celebrate the company's IPO, on the front facade of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., March 10, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Roblox Corp missed estimates for quarterly bookings on Tuesday (Aug 9), as the gaming platform faced a slowdown in the pandemic-fueled surge in spending for its games including Jailbreak and Adopt Me!.
Shares of the San Mateo, California-based company fell 11 per cent in extended trading.
During the pandemic, more people turned to gaming as an alternate source of entertainment giving a boost to the mobile gaming sector, one of the largest sub-segment of the broader video gaming industry.
However, with many options of entertainment available again following subsequent re-opening, gaming demand has slowly subsided. According to data from analytics firm SensorTower, overall mobile game revenue in the United States fell by 9.6 per cent to US$11.4 billion year-over-year during the first half of this year, while downloads declined by 2.5 per cent.
Earlier in June, Roblox also reported a hit from a stronger US dollar with the company saying the impact of foreign currency fluctuations hurt its May bookings and led to a reduction of about 4 per cent in the bookings growth rate.
The company, famous for its game MeepCity, posted net bookings of US$639.9 million in the second quarter, compared with US$665.5 million a year earlier. Analysts were expecting net bookings of US$644.4 million, according to Refinitiv data.
Net loss attributable to common stockholders widened to US$176.44 million, or 30 cents per share for the quarter ended Jun 30, from US$140.13 million, or 25 cents per share, a year earlier.
