Since 2006, Roblox enchants teenagers with his immense creative freedom. Since March he has recorded billions of access for a new game: Grow a Garden. A “Cozy Games” in which a garden must be treated by cultivating seeds. However, the problem of microtransactions returns.
There is a growing trend in recent years and it is that of “Cozy Games”. Comfortable video games, which renounce adrenaline, frenzy and violence to offer relaxing, slow, warm experiences. In short, the opposite. Grow to Gardena video game available on Robloxis one of these. Launched in March 2025, in these first months he generated gigantic numbers: 9 billion total accesses16 million simultaneously only in June. Another interesting aspect, is that 35% of the users are made up of people of 13 yearsaccording to what reported by BBC. Even the king of records, Fortnite, collapses in front of such results.
How to play Grow in Garden
Garden Garden’s procedure is very simple: we have a piece of barren ground to be cultivated through different types of seeds. These can be purchased by the virtual local seller. To be a background, a relaxing music and the verses of birds that can visit our garden. The most fascinating element is that The growth of the seeds planted continues even when we go out of the game. In this way it is even more satisfying to find the most common flourishing fields -which are the most common trees of sugary apples -the most precious instead -and much more. In short, A mix of colors, simple mechanics and relaxing mood, and here are the ingredients of success. For Thordis FridrikssonPodcaster and BBC presenter as well as gardening expert, Grow a Garden can be an excellent access door to really passionate about gardening. “We cross the fingers that someone, passionate about the game, also try to cultivate something at home” he reported to BBC.
There is though A dark side. In Roblox there is a currency to make purchases, the Robuxwhich can be bought with real money. Robux usually are used to buy accessories for avatar or enrich the gaming experience. In the case of Grow in Garden, Ebay is filling with packets containing dragonflies, procones, foxes and particular seeds to have in his own garden. The prices are affordable – they range from 1 to 10 euros at the moment – but they are still transactions in which many minors could incur, given Roblox’s reference audience.
Roblox’s success between lights and shadows
Roblox was born in 2006 from an idea by David Baszucki and Erik Cassel As a platform designed for the creativity of the youngest, with the aim of offering a space where anyone could create and share their games. Unlike traditional video games, Roblox is not a single title but a universe of experiences created by the users themselves. A bit like Fortnite or Minecraft. With the latter it has in common the angular and “cubettious” style, albeit more anonymous than the Mojang Studio giant.
Based on what is reported by an article in New York University of 2024, Roblox exploded during the Covid-19 pandemiclike many other games (for example Among Us). In particular, in 2023 he generated a turnover of 2.7 billion dollars and until 2024 he was assessed between $ 25 and 30 billion. These numbers make Roblox one of the largest virtual economies in the world: His GDP is comparable to that of some sovereign states, according to the article published by New York University.
Today on Roblox there are millions of recreational creations by users. Simulative experiences, action, collaborative, educational, Cozy: in the playing game there is really everything. And it is precisely in the creative freedom that Roblox’s strength lies. However, There is no shortage of numerous critical issues. Over time, the platform has ended up in the sights due to the presence of aggressive microtransactions due to Robux, for the possibility that children spend real money without real awareness, and for moderation often deemed inadequate. There was no lack of reports of cases of adaptation, which raised concerns about the safety of the little ones online. Roblox Corporation claims to continuously invest in control and monitoring tools, but the fact remains that, as often happens in the “open” platforms, freedom can be a double -edged sword.
