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speculators inside the slop factory shovelware and financialized game development in roblox international journal of communication skip to main content skip to main navigation menu skip to site footer open menu about about the journal editorial board journal sponsorship editorial policies editorial team privacy statement contact current archives journal archives special sections features forum book reviews submissions make a submission submission guidelines propose a special section or forum search register login home archives vol 20 2026 articles speculators inside the slop factory shovelware and financialized game development in roblox authors daniel nielsen charles university https orcid org 0000 0002 9165 9614 aleena chia goldsmiths university of london https orcid org 0000 0002 7066 7244 doi https doi org 10 65476 kvfhvs62 keywords digital labor financialization game engines game industry game production game workers abstract roblox launched in 2006 by roblox corporation hosts more than 40 million player created games and had 85 3 million daily users as of q3 2024 the platform promotes game creation as an educational tool based on interviews with 17 roblox creators this article explores how players are drawn into game development unlike traditional platform labor roblox incentivizes creators through speculative financial gain rather than creative passion these creators face both the precarity typical of game development and a winner takes all dynamic intensifying cost benefit calculations around asset use this environment encourages speculative reuse of assets and manipulation of robux contributing to the rise of shovelware games perceived as unoriginal and derivative because of their excessive use of premade assets ultimately developers respond to transactional and precarious working practices forged under restrictive platform governance with churn producing content rapidly and routinely in large quantities as a financialized strategy with critical implications for cultural production downloads pdf html published 2026 05 14 issue vol 20 2026 section articles license copyright c 2026 daniel nielsen aleena chia this work is licensed under a creative commons attribution noncommercial noderivatives 4 0 international license most read articles by the same author s aleena chia darin barney gabriella coleman christine ross jonathan sterne tamar tembeck eds the participatory condition in the digital age international journal of communication vol 12 2018 information for readers for authors for librarians featured book review melissa villa nicholas data borders how silicon valley is building an industry around immigrants reviewed by raka bhattacharyya featured special section beyond verification misinformation disinformation and the artifices of authenticity introduction guest editors anthony burton alberto lusoli ganaele langlois wendy hui kyong chun and esther weltevrede featured forum forum on scale tracing the sociotechnical convenings sizes transitions and measurements shaping communication systems guest editors mike ananny kyooeun jang and colin maclay university of southern california university of southern california usc annenberg published by annenberg press journal contact privacy statement open journal systems help social feeds rss feed atom feed xml sitemap