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The New York Stock Exchange welcomes executives and guests of Roblox in celebration of its direct listing, March 10, 2021.

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Roblox, the popular kid’s gaming platform that generates billions of dollars a year in the virtual world, is getting real.

The company said on Friday that some game developers on the platform will be able to charge users real money rather than relying on payments through Roblox’s digital currency called Robux. The change applies only to so-called Paid Access games, or those that cost money to play.

The new model, announced as part of the company’s annual developer conference in San Jose, California, takes a cue from the traditional video game industry, allowing developers to make money from selling titles, and to raise and lower prices based on market demand. Game creators can now more easily sell to users without dealing with an intermediary virtual currency.

The goal “is to increase the appeal the platform to existing developers” who want more options to create and make money from their games, said Manuel Bronstein, chief product officer of Roblox.

Payouts will be on a sliding scale, with higher-cost games resulting in a greater percentage of revenue to the creator.

For a game that costs $50, the creator will pocket 70% of the earnings. Those that cost $30 and $10 will lead to payouts of 60% and 50%, respectively. Roblox users will be able to pay with their local currencies later this year from their computers, and the company plans to expand payments to other devices in the future.

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Although the majority of Roblox games will still be free to play, the company hopes that the new pricing plan “creates an incentive” for developers and small gaming studios who “want to do something more grandiose” on the platform and earn bigger payouts, said Bronstein.

“To participate in the broader gaming market, we need to branch out to all the forms of the gaming market,” Bronstein said.

Roblox derives the bulk of its revenue from sales of Robux, which people typically use to buy virtual goods. Roblox takes a 30% cut from those sales, with the developer getting the rest.

Roblox said in August that second-quarter sales jumped 31% year-over-year to $893.5 million, while its net loss narrowed to $207.2 million from $282.8 million during the previous year.

This isn’t the first time Roblox has experimented with incorporating real-world money. Earlier this year, the company debuted a revamped digital marketplace, now called the Creator Store, where developers can purchase certain features from other creators using actual currency instead of Robux. The company’s Avatar Marketplace for buying digital goods like virtual hats still relies on use of Robux.

Other ways Roblox has been trying to diversify its business are through online ads and by giving more users a bigger menu of options for creating and selling digital goods. The company said it will soon introduce tools intended to help developers better price their digital goods, and will experiment with regional pricing options.

Developers will also eventually be able to sell some physical merchandise to U.S. users over age 13 though a partnership with Shopify. The company said Friday it will begin testing the in-game shopping feature with creators, brands and other unspecified online retailers in the fourth quarter.

Shopify said it plans for a “larger launch” early next year.

Roblox shares were down close to 3% Friday afternoon to $42.56, and are now down about 7% for the year, while the Nasdaq is up 11% in 2024.

The stock has dropped close to 40% since its first day of trading in 2021, when Roblox’s business was booming as kids flocked to the app during the pandemic.

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We’re putting an AI giant in the Bullpen — not letting a mistake cloud our judgment

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Space stocks rocket higher as sector optimism gains steam into 2026

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Space stocks rocket higher as sector optimism gains steam into 2026

Firefly’s CEO Jason Kim reacts during the company’s IPO at the Nasdaq MarketSite in New York City, U.S., August 7, 2025.

Jeenah Moon | Reuters

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Last week’s liftoff also coincided with President Donald Trump‘s “space superiority” executive order, signed on Friday, that aims to create a permanent U.S. base on the moon.

Investors have also gained more clarity on the future of NASA following a whirlwind drama since Trump won the election.

Last week, the Senate confirmed Jared Isaacman as NASA administrator more than a year after he was first nominated to the position.

Trump withdrew the nomination from the Elon Musk ally earlier this year amid a public fallout, but renominated Isaacman in November.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was tapped to temporarily run the space agency in the interim.

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Alphabet to acquire data center and energy infrastructure company Intersect

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Alphabet to acquire data center and energy infrastructure company Intersect

Alphabet to acquire data center and energy infrastructure company Intersect

Google parent Alphabet on Monday announced it will acquire Intersect, a data center and energy infrastructure company, for $4.75 billion in cash in addition to the assumption of debt.

Alphabet said Intersect’s operations will remain independent, but that the acquisition will help bring more data center and generation capacity online faster.

In recent years, Google has been embroiled in a fierce competition with artificial intelligence rivals, namely OpenAI, which kick-started the generative AI boom with the launch of its ChatGPT chatbot in 2022. OpenAI has made more than $1.4 trillion of infrastructure commitments to build out the data centers it needs to meet growing demand for its technology.

With its acquisition of Intersect, Google is looking to keep up.

“Intersect will help us expand capacity, operate more nimbly in building new power generation in lockstep with new data center load, and reimagine energy solutions to drive US innovation and leadership,” Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said in a statement.

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Google already had a minority stake in Intersect from a funding round that was announced last December. In a release at the time, Intersect said its strategic partnership with Google and TPG Rise Climate aimed to develop gigawatts of data center capacity across the U.S., including a $20 billion investment in renewable power infrastructure by the end of the decade.

Alphabet said Monday that Intersect will work closely with Google’s technical infrastructure team, including on the companies’ co-located power site and data center in Haskell County, Texas. Google previously announced a $40 billion investment in Texas through 2027, which includes new data center campuses in the state’s Haskell and Armstrong counties.

Intersect’s operating and in-development assets in California and its existing operating assets in Texas are not part of the acquisition, Alphabet said. Intersect’s existing investors including TPG Rise Climate, Climate Adaptive Infrastructure and Greenbelt Capital Partners will support those assets, and they will continue to operate as an independent company.

Alphabet’s acquisition of Intersect is expected to close in the first half of 2026, but it is still subject to customary closing conditions.

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