Roblox plunges 29% in worst day ever as monetization warning prompts sell ratings

Roblox shares nosedived nearly 29% on July 31, marking the worst single-day decline in the company’s history after Q2 results revealed slowing growth, missed targets, and a yanked full-year outlook. The stock dropped to lows in the $34-$48 range as Wall Street responded with a flurry of downgrades and slashed price targets. What went wrong Bookings growth decelerated to just 8% year-over-year in Q2. Management attributed the slowdown to a deliberate retreat from high-monetizing viral experiences. Daily active user growth slowed significantly, weighed down by two major platform changes: mandatory age verification and new discovery algorithms that prioritize long-term user retention over immediate monetization. Only about 51% of Roblox’s user base has completed age verification, well short of the company’s own 90% target. That gap matters because it determines how aggressively Roblox can monetize different user segments and what kinds of experiences it can serve to whom. Roblox withdrew its full-year 2026 guidance entirely. The safety-versus-money paradox Roblox’s Developer Exchange program, known as DevEx, has paid out more than $1.5 billion to creators, suggesting the creator econo...