A lot of it deals with the fact that Roblox doesn’t pay you out until you accrue some critical mass of value. If a kid makes an app and puts it on Steam and it sells 2 copies, they’re getting paid for those 2 copies. Not so for Roblox. You require 30,000 Robux to cash out - which seems to be quite a lot, actually, considering the documentation I’m reading on their own webpage advertises this with photos that show 97,493 total Robux earnings from this presumably rock-star developer that you want to be like, and buyable items costing between 80-600 Robux.
It should also be noted that I cannot locate any mention of a dollars-to-Robux ratio without an account, which I do not have and am not making, so God only knows what rate they actually pay you out at once you do manage to acquire your 30,000 Robux. The primary use case of earned Robux is to then invest them back into the in-game shop to purchase content that other users have made. Robux actively doesn’t want you cashing out and makes it as difficult as possible to do so.
I’m personally not too upset about a game primarily made from user created content, I think it’s kind of cool, but the way they’ve tied real money into the process feels very icky and scumbaggish to me. My particular issue with Roblox is the rampant pedophilia and sexual grooming that the devs are either unwilling to alienate (since, presumably, this population makes up a not-insignificant percentage of their user base) or else actively in cahoots with, because this has been a known problem for many years but approximately zero steps have been taken to address it.
Huh. Did that come with an update? I remember trying to play HZD when I first got my steam deck and it consistently hit about 14fps during combat at the lowest settings. Completely unplayable. I just uninstalled it and didn’t try again, but maybe I should now.