FILE PHOTO: The Roblox logo is displayed on a banner on the front facade of the New York Stock Exchange in New York, U.S., March 10, 2021. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
(Reuters) -Roblox on Thursday raised its annual bookings forecast for the third time this year on the back of strong in-game spending on viral titles such as "Steal a Brainrot" that also helped it surpass 150 million daily active users.
Shares of the gaming platform rose over 5% in premarket trading.
Over the past few years, Roblox has been trying to expand the platform into a hub for socialization, advertising and ecommerce while also investing heavily into the core gaming segment.
The strategy has made it one of the biggest winners in the videogame industry, with shares having more than doubled this year.
Roblox's 70% increase in average daily active users — a key engagement metric — represents the company's biggest third-quarter jump in around five years.
"Steal a Brainrot," a game where players collect characters based on viral internet culture, surpassed 25 million concurrent players in earlier this month, eclipsing "Grow a Garden."
CFO Naveen Chopra told Reuters he attributes the success of these games to investments into the search and discovery algorithm, capacity infrastructure and incentives for developers to spur gamemaking.
"The ability to handle multiple games with more than 20 million concurrent users, like that's never been done before . .. and so these hits could not have gone that viral without that kind of infrastructure," he said.
Roblox now expects fiscal 2025 bookings worth between $6.57 billion and $6.62 billion, compared with its prior forecast of between $5.87 billion and $5.97 billion.
It forecast fourth-quarter bookings worth between $2 billion and $2.05 billion, compared with analysts' estimates of $1.80 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Bookings for the third quarter came in at $1.92 billion, beating expectations of $1.65 billion.
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
