--- description: Find out why Roblox was selected for the inaugural list title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2021: Roblox image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1daae3c5e19fc206/698a18ec22fb856c38e2c1d2/roblox-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 23, 2021 # Roblox Building a metaverse by [Alison Van Houten](/author/alison-van-houten/) ## Alison Van Houten Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  A still from Roblox's "Vehicle Simulator" game. A still from Roblox's "Vehicle Simulator" game.Courtesy Roblox When adults turned to Zoom for pandemic-era happy hours, kids filled the social void with Roblox. In 2020, Roblox Corporation’s free-to-play game—which allows users to construct original, three-dimensional online worlds—grew its daily user base 85% to more than 32.6 million. Players can do everything from delivering pizzas to exploring ancient Rome to shelling out real money for virtual Robux to outfit their blocky avatars. (As in many online communities, some have faced harassment.) “Futurists and science-fiction writers have been imagining the Metaverse for decades,” says CEO David Baszucki, referring to the concept of a persistent, shared, 3-D virtual space. Roblox is making it a reality. Roblox Is One of the 2021 TIME100 Most Influential Companies ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5953587/roblox/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5953587/roblox/"},"headline":"Roblox","datePublished":"2021-04-23T15:23:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T05:08:37.849Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5953587/roblox/","keywords":["Lists","franchise","TIME100 Companies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1daae3c5e19fc206/698a18ec22fb856c38e2c1d2/roblox-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alison Van Houten","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alison-van-houten/"}],"creator":"Alison Van Houten","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1daae3c5e19fc206/698a18ec22fb856c38e2c1d2/roblox-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5953587/roblox/","name":"Roblox"}}]}] ```