「五分钟阅读」《经济学人》Roblox游戏元宇宙守护者-08（元界守护者）

Roblox, shepherd of the gaming “metaverse”, goes public

Roblox，游戏元宇宙的守护者，上市了

图片来源于网络侵权删

Roblox, shepherd of the gaming “metaverse”, goes public

Roblox，游戏元宇宙的守护者，上市了

One portent of a meme stock being born is when the company gets a pseudo-ticker on WallStreetBets, an online forum on Reddit. Roblox, an American video game platform, has earned the tag $sears. But Redditors aren’t mixing it up with a stodgy old department store. Roblox’s digital currency, Robux, sounds like Roebuck, of Sears Roebuck fame. Get it?

Meme股票诞生的一个征兆是该公司在红迪网的散户论坛华尔街赌局上获得了一个伪代码。美国视频游戏平台Roblox获得了$sears的标签。但红迪网的用户们并没有把它和古板的百货公司混为一谈。Roblox的数字货币Robux，听起来像西尔斯罗巴克的罗巴克。懂吗？

注：

1. stodgy adj. （食物）难消化的，易饱的；高糖分的；古板的，枯燥的；（外表）庞大的，笨重的

Roblox ticks other meme-stock boxes, too. The kids are into it, just as they were into GameStop, an ailing bricks-and-mortar gaming retailer whose share price has soared this year. Unlike GameStop, however, Roblox is all the rage with venture capitalists, Wall Street bankers and other supposedly hard headed types. The firm’s private valuation soared from $4bn at the start of 2020 to $29.5bn in January, when it raised $520m. It is so flush with cash that it has decided to go public on the New York Stock Exchange via a direct listing, without drumming up fresh capital. Its shares ended their first trading day on March 10th 54% higher than the reference price, giving the firm a market capitalisation of $38bn.

Roblox也包含了其他的模因库存。孩子们对此很感兴趣，就像他们对GameStop一样。GameStop是一家境况不佳的实体游戏零售商，其股价在今年飙升。然而，与GameStop不同的是，Roblox受到了风险投资家、华尔街银行家和其他顽固人士的追捧。该公司的私人估值从2020年初的40亿美元飙升至今年1月的295亿美元，当时融资5.2亿美元。由于现金充裕，它决定在纽约证券交易所直接上市，而不需要筹集新的资金。其股票在3月10日的第一个交易日收盘时比参考价格高出54%，使该公司的市值达到380亿美元。

注：

1. ailing adj. 生病的，身体不舒服的；病态的；处境困难的，不景气的

v. 使生病，使不适；困扰，苦恼（ail 的现在分词）

2. valuation n. 评价，估价；计算

3. rage n. 愤怒；狂暴，肆虐；情绪激动

vi. 大怒，发怒；流行，风行

Roblox provides sophisticated software tools to young, amateur developers. These creators-Roblox has 8m of them-produce multiplayer games and in-game merchandise for other youngsters. The company makes money by issuing Robux, which players buy with real dollars and spend on extras such as in-game experiences or avatar outfits and accessories. It keeps some of the revenue but forks as much as 70% over to developers in the hope of incentivising more and better content.

Roblox为年轻的业余开发者提供精细的软件工具。Roblox拥有800万的制作人，他们为其他年轻人制作多人游戏和游戏内部商品。该公司通过发行Robux来赚钱，玩家用真美元购买这款产品，然后将其用于购买额外的游戏体验或虚拟角色服装和配饰。它保留了部分收益，但将70%的收益分配给了开发者，希望以此刺激更多更好的内容。

注：

1. merchandise n. 商品；货物

vt. 买卖；推销

This, it hopes, will attract more players in need of more Robux. In 2020 Roblox’s developers collectively earned $329m; 300 individuals made $100,000 or more. The approach has fostered loyalty among developers. Creators like Alex Balfanz, a student who made millions and paid his college fees with Jailbreak , a hit game, plan to create for Roblox for a decade or more.

它希望，这将吸引更多需要更多Robux的玩家。2020年，Roblox的开发者共赚得3.29亿美元;其中有300人赚了10万美元或更多。这种方法培养了开发人员的忠诚度。像亚历克斯·巴尔凡兹这样的开发者计划在未来10年甚至更长时间里为Roblox创造游戏。亚历克斯·巴尔凡兹是一名学生，他通过一款热门游戏《越狱》赚了数百万美元并支付了大学学费。

Use of Roblox soared after covid-19 cancelled school and real-world play dates everywhere. The site now boasts 20m gaming “experiences” that draw 37m daily active users globally. Three in four American children aged 9-12 are on the platform, as is one in two British ten-year-olds. In Roblox’s last fiscal year users bought and spent $1.9bn worth of the currency.

在冠状病毒破坏了世界各地的正常上课和现实世界的玩乐后，Roblox的使用者激增。该网站目前拥有2000万款游戏体验，在全球吸引了3700万日活跃用户。美国9岁到12岁的儿童中，有3/4的人使用了该平台，而英国10岁的儿童中，也有1/2的人使用该平台。在上个Roblox的财政年度，用户购买和消费了价值19亿美元的虚拟货币。

Once the school gates reopen its rate of growth is, as Roblox has warned, likely to slow. By how much is anyone’s bet. Not that this will bother investors. Professionals like its growth story. Day-traders may like the meme-ness. Neither is much bothered about the firm’s net losses, which swelled to $253m in 2020 as it invests in expansion (see chart). As a result, Bernstein, a broker, reckoned that Roblox shares could fetch anywhere between $30 and $120 apiece when they started trading (they opened at $64.50).

正如Roblox所警告的那样，一旦学校重新开放，其增长速度可能会放缓。每个人的赌注是多少。这并不是说会困扰投资者。专业人士喜欢它的成长故事。短线交易员可能喜欢这种模因性。两人都不太担心公司的净亏损，由于投资扩张，公司的净亏损在2020年增至2.53亿美元(见图表)。因此，投资者伯恩斯坦估计，Roblox股票开盘时每股的价格可能在30美元至120美元之间（实际开盘价为64.50美元）。

注：

1. swelled adj. 骄傲自大；自负的

v. 膨胀；隆起；增大（swell的过去分词）

2. fetch vt. 取来；接来；到达；吸引

vi. 拿；取物；卖得

n. 取得；诡计

3. apiece adv. 每人；每个；各自地

Long-term success will depend on attracting an older audience. Roblox has penetrated the 8-15 age range. Ageing up is a priority for its cofounder and boss, David Baszucki. So is lifting the quality of games. Roblox’s exciting gameplay has pulled in a big audience but even ten-year-olds can see that the visual realism of many games is not up to the standard of professional studios. Still, Mr Balfanz argues that it will take just one big hit for Roblox to get traction with 20somethings quickly.

长期的成功将取决于吸引年长的观众。Roblox已经渗透到8-15岁年龄段。对于该公司的联合创始人兼老板大卫•巴斯祖基来说，“成年化”是一个优先考虑的问题。提高游戏质量也是如此。Roblox令人兴奋的游戏玩法吸引了大量用户，但即使是10岁的孩子也能看出许多游戏的视觉真实感还达不到专业工作室的标准。尽管如此，巴斯祖基先生认为，只要Roblox有一次大获成功，它就能迅速吸引20多岁的年轻人。

注：

1. penetrate vt. 渗透；穿透；洞察

vi. 渗透；刺入；看透

Mr Baszucki touts other opportunities. One is China. Since 2019 Roblox has had a joint venture with Tencent. In December the Chinese gaming colossus received a licence to launch a local version of Roblox called Luobulesi. Another is advertising. Roblox largely eschews ads but in future wants the likes of Disney to build immersive, branded worlds on its platform.

巴斯祖基先生还宣扬其他方面的进展。一个是中国方面。自2019年以来，Roblox与腾讯成立了一家合资企业。去年12月，这家中国游戏巨头获得许可，推出了本地版Roblox，名为罗布乐思。另一个是广告方面。Roblox在很大程度上避开了广告，但在未来，它希望像迪士尼这样的公司能够在其平台上创造具有沉浸感的游戏世界。

注：

1. tout vt. 兜售；招徕；刺探赛马情报

vi. 兜售；招徕顾客；拉选票

n. 侦查者；兜售者

2. eschew vt. 避免；避开；远避

Roblox holds interest for techies as well as investors. They want to see if the firm really is, as Mr Baszucki describes it, a shepherd for the “metaverse” , the idea of a persistent virtual world in which people meet, experience things together, make money and more. Futurists have speculated about such a possibility for years. The Roblox economy and its virtual music concerts, like one with Lil Nas X, a rapper, in November, could be a start. The company may look like child’s play, says Herman Narula, co-founder of Improbable, a virtual-worlds enterprise, but platforms like it may soon become “the primary way that many of us earn a living” . Perhaps. For the time being, it is likely to make tidy sums for its financial backers.

Roblox吸引了技术人员和投资者的兴趣。他们想看看这家公司是否真的像巴斯祖基先生所描述的那样，是一个为“元宇宙”守护者。“元宇宙”的指的是一个持久的虚拟世界，人们在其中相遇，一起体验事物，赚钱等等。未来学家多年来一直在推测这种可能性。Roblox的经济和虚拟音乐会，比如11月说唱歌手利尔·纳斯·X举办的音乐会，可能是一个开始。虚拟现实创业公司Improbable的联合创始人赫尔曼·纳鲁拉说，这家公司可能看起来像小孩子玩的游戏，但像这样的平台可能很快就会成为我们许多人谋生的主要方式。也许。就目前而言，它很可能会为其投资者赚到一大笔钱。