Roblox (RBLX -3.66%) recently released its February metrics report, and although it showed that bookings are down, one number that stood out was its daily active user growth of 28 percent year over year. In this episode of "The Gaming Show" on Motley Fool Live, recorded on March 21, Fool.com contributors Jose Najarro and Jon Quast discuss what's ahead for the global gaming platform.
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Jose Najarro: So seeing that 28% year-over-year growth is, in my opinion, the biggest takeaway here. Unfortunately, we are seeing bookings down. Total bookings down 2 to 4%, definitely something to worry about. But we are seeing a lot in the gaming market where they're being hit, as people are going back to school, back to the office, not having enough game time. The estimated average bookings per daily active user is going down. I do believe they are increasing their international exposure, and usually international regions tend to have lower monetization rates. But the great thing about this is Roblox, to some extent, is a company that, if they add more users, it doesn't really increase the cost for Roblox. Maybe right now, it might not be the best time to monetize Roblox. To those players, it might just be the time of, hey, let's just grab you, let's grab your friends, get everybody into this platform. Now once we continue to see these daily active users, that's when we can monetize you even better later on. I am a Roblox investor. I am happy with the daily active users. The other things, I'm not overshadowing it, but I don't think it's hurting my long-term thesis on the company.
Jon Quast: Very good. I think that you are so spot on with that analysis that international markets, in general, tend to be lower monetization than the U.S. You see this across social media companies, for example, like Meta Platforms, like Pinterest. But on top of that, especially when you start in a new geography, you would expect that monetization rate to be a small starting point and then to tick up from there. So definitely some upside over time. I really appreciate that perspective that you bring. Overall revenue is still up a whopping 60 to 63% year over year. Take that with a grain of salt. Bookings and revenue are going to correlate over time. There's going to be periods where they're widely divergent, as right now. But over time, they should be a little bit closer together.
