In the popular metaverse gaming platform, Roblox, CEO David Baszucki has presented his vision of a future where non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may exist. Baszucki talked about the potential for NFTs to go off-platform and the potential for Roblox’s virtual Robux currency to become useable outside the platform in an interview with CNBC. He used the fictitious example of a celebrity, such as Elton John, releasing special edition capes on Roblox to raise money for charity. These capes could then be sold off-platform as NFTs and eventually come back on the platform.
Big and popular, Roblox is especially popular with younger audiences. According to CNBC, the number of daily active users on the network has climbed by 20% since November of last year. Over 70 million users played Roblox for an average of 2.5 hours in the third quarter of this year. Limiteds, a new class of virtual wearables that can be sold in small quantities and resold as customers grow tired of their purchases, is now available on the site. Limiteds are not NFTs, although they do have many of the same features as NFTs without the blockchain.
It is theoretically already possible for Robux to be used outside of Roblox if users are prompted to log into their Roblox accounts by third-party websites. Nonetheless, Roblox has openly denounced these use cases, declared that these websites are forbidden, and said that Roblox has no legal connection to them. Although Baszucki’s remarks regarding NFTs in Roblox are not disparaging, they do not imply that the platform will incorporate blockchain components for its virtual goods. The Roblox leadership seems receptive to the concept of interoperable NFTs for the time being, but there’s no proof that a change of this kind is genuinely in the works.
