A thriving creator ecosystem strengthens the platform, but it also continues to pressure margins.
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After a strong rebound in 2025, Roblox (NYSE: RBLX) is back in the spotlight. User growth reaccelerated, engagement reached new highs, and the company expanded its monetization toolkit. For the first time in a while, the long-term story began to look credible again.
But a reset is not the same as a resolution.
Despite meaningful progress, Roblox exited 2025 with several unresolved issues that continue to define the investment debate. These are not short-term blemishes. They go to the heart of whether Roblox can eventually become a sustainably profitable platform, rather than a perpetually promising one.
Here’s what Roblox still hasn’t fixed — and why investors should care.
Image source: Getty Images.
The most significant issue remains unchanged: Roblox is still not profitable.
Even after a year of accelerating bookings and rising engagement, the company continues to report significant losses, estimated to reach $1.1 billion in 2025. Infrastructure costs remain high, trust and safety spending is unavoidable, and developer payouts scale directly with platform success. In practice, Roblox’s cost structure expands in line with its revenue.
This isn’t a one-off problem tied to a weak quarter. It’s structural.
Roblox’s business model prioritizes growth and ecosystem health over short-term financial gains. That may make sense strategically, but it also means investors are still underwriting a future where operating leverage eventually appears. So far, that leverage remains more theoretical than visible.
The only silver lining is that the company continues to generate significant free cash flow, which it reinvests in growing its business. However, until Roblox can consistently demonstrate that revenue growth outpaces total costs, profitability remains an expectation rather than an achievement.
Advertising is widely viewed as Roblox’s most important monetization opportunity. In 2025, the company made tangible progress on this front, including the rollout of immersive ad formats, the launch of rewarded video ads for users aged 13 and above, and integration with Google Ad Manager.
These steps matter. They move advertising from concept to execution.
That said, advertising is still in its infancy on the platform. Roblox has yet to prove that ads can scale without compromising user experience, or that advertisers will commit large, recurring budgets. Its relatively young audience introduces regulatory constraints, while immersive ad formats require brands to rethink how they engage users.
Don’t get me wrong, the upside is real (and potentially massive). Even modest ad revenue per user could materially improve margins. But for now, advertising remains an optionality, not a proven earnings engine. Investors should treat it as future potential rather than a solved problem.
Roblox’s creator ecosystem is its greatest strength — and one of its most significant financial constraints.
In just nine months of 2025, creators have already earned more than $1 billion through the platform, reinforcing Roblox’s position as a leading platform in the creator economy. New tools, including AI-assisted creation, lowered barriers to entry and increased content supply, which in turn supported engagement and growth.
But creator success comes at a cost. Developer payouts have not declined meaningfully as a percentage of bookings, limiting margin expansion. Roblox needs creators to thrive, yet that success directly pressures profitability unless offset by higher-margin revenue elsewhere.
This tension is inherent to the model. The challenge isn’t supporting creators — Roblox does that well. The challenge is capturing enough economic value in addition to creator growth to deliver sustainable returns.
That’s still a work in progress for now.
Roblox made real progress in 2025. Growth returned, monetization options expanded, and the platform’s long-term relevance became clearer. However, the company did not resolve its most challenging problems.
Profitability remains distant. Advertising is early, and creator payouts continue to constrain margins.
None of this makes Roblox uninvestable. But it does mean that investing in the stock still requires patience and conviction. Investors are betting on execution over time, not on current earnings power.
Until these unresolved issues show tangible improvement, the company will remain a high-potential platform with a high bar to clear — in layperson’s terms, a high-risk, but potentially high-return, stock.
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Lawrence Nga has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Roblox. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
What Roblox Still Hasn’t Fixed in 2025 — and Why It Matters was originally published by The Motley Fool
