[Asia Economy Reporter Hyungsoo Park] Expectations are rising for Roblox, a mobile game company set to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange on the 10th. Amid strong movements to find beneficiary stocks in the domestic stock market, attention is focused on Giantstep, a video visual effects (VFX) specialized company.
According to Hi Investment & Securities on the 7th, Roblox's corporate value reaches $29.5 billion (33.3 trillion KRW).
Minjung Kim, a researcher at Hi Investment & Securities, explained, "Roblox, whose initial public offering (IPO) was postponed last year, will be directly listed on the Nasdaq market on the 10th. Roblox was valued at $4 billion early last year, but due to the surge in users and sales caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it was valued at $29.5 billion through additional investment attraction in January this year."
Roblox recorded sales of $930 million last year, an 82% increase compared to the previous year. The cumulative playtime recorded 30.6 billion hours, more than double the previous year.
Researcher Kim analyzed, "Until 2019, the deficit size was on a decreasing trend, but due to increased research and development (R&D) and facility investments, the annual net loss increased from $71 million in 2019 to $253.3 million last year."
She added, "The main revenue comes from in-game item sales such as avatar costumes, and the commission revenue from user-developed games is continuously increasing."
She stated, "Roblox, which achieved external growth due to the COVID-19 impact, is expected to achieve long-term sales growth," and "Roblox recently announced plans to provide immersive educational programs beyond the game platform at an online investor briefing."
Researcher Kim judged that Roblox will expand its ecosystem to be more widely used in entertainment, education, and business markets. Currently, teenagers overwhelmingly make up the user base, but the platform will improve content creation tool functions so that immersive games can be created for older gamers. Entertainment events such as virtual performances will also be expanded to allow participation by users who are not gamers.
Researcher Kim predicted, "With Roblox's listing, a revaluation of corporate value for domestic metaverse-related stocks is expected, and interest in Giantstep, a creative tech company scheduled for IPO on the 24th, will intensify."
She continued, "Giantstep is a company based on VFX technology in the advertising content sector and is rapidly expanding its business area of 'real-time content solutions' using an artificial intelligence (AI)-based real-time engine."
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