It doesn’t matter what type of “business” you are in; there is always the chance for expansion within the company you work for or own, and there’s always the chance of downsizing. Another element that must always be taken into consideration is mergers, or “corporate consolidation.” Most feel that this is done to both “shrink the market for a company’s benefit” while also “expanding manpower and potential.” It doesn’t always work like that, but that’s what higher-ups love to sell in PR statements. You might not think that Roblox would have to do any “merging” since it’s a successful company on its own. However, as always, there is nuance in that statement.
Yes, the “entity” we know as Roblox is a singular company that wouldn’t really need to merge with anyone because of what it singularly does. However, within the company’s universe are “creator studios.” These are the ones who make worlds of their own making or make worlds with various brands and entities to help create collaborations to try and make money from. As noted by Digiday, a new merger between two of these “partners” has happened via the merger of Super League and Super Social.
…really broke the bank on those names, huh?
These two were a type of “marketing agency” that would make branded content within the universe. They’ve had success, too, as the company’s combined visits by players are nearly 400 million, and that’s nothing to scoff at. They apparently feel that they can “do more together” than they could on their own. However, the bigger question is whether this kind of thing should be expected in the future.
In truth, it more than likely is. We reported on other buyouts and mergers in the recent past, and many feel that this is likely to happen further due to the state of the game and the ecosystem that’s currently not as friendly as you might hope for creators as a whole. There were even reports that the dev team itself wasn’t doing as much to pair creator groups with worthy brand partners because of the “cut” the dev team was getting. As in, it wasn’t a big enough cut.
It’s not fully on them, though, as various brands are realizing that there are “smaller methods” to get their ads out there that can be just as effective, and be a bit cheaper as a result.
These kinds of “consolidations” will definitely be something to keep an eye on in the future.
