Linden Lab has spent $1.3B constructing Second Life and paid $1.1B to creators (up to date)

Linden Lab has spent $1.3 billion constructing the Second Life digital world, which debuted again in 2003 within the first period of the metaverse.

And Second Life continues to be round in the present day. Philip Rosedale, founder and former CEO of Linden Lab, and Brad Oberwager, government chair of Linden Lab, spoke with me in regards to the magnitude of the funding that has gone into the Second Life platform and the income paid out to creators. Actually, Linden Lab has paid out $1.1 billion to creators since 2003.

Roblox famous that a number of the numbers on this story weren’t correct comparisons, so we’ve up to date the story with their very own responses and glued inaccuracies (up to date 12/21/24 at 1:57 p.m.).

These numbers characterize an enormous digital enterprise that’s good to recollect as all of us proceed to debate the metaverse, the universe of digital worlds that sci-fi people would like to see related collectively sooner or later as the subsequent technology of the web.

In trendy discussions in regards to the web, Second Life — which was impressed by the 1997 Neal Stephenson novel Snow Crash, the place the time period “metaverse” first appeared — is commonly dismissed. Actually, individuals usually take into consideration Roblox, Fortnite and Minecraft as in the present day’s frontrunners for the metaverse.

However Second Life continues to be round with a comparatively small variety of customers compared to the frontrunners (Roblox has 89 million day by day energetic customers). These customers are devoted and so they have been on the platform for a median of round 14 years, Oberwager mentioned. Second Life additionally has an economic system of about $650 million a 12 months, constructed on the shopping for and promoting of digital items created inside Second Life.

And since Linden Lab shares 90% of transactions with creators and solely takes a ten% reduce, the overwhelming majority of the cash generated by way of commerce is paid to the creators themselves. It is a testomony to the energy of the creator-based economic system and our residents who help them, Oberwager mentioned. That 10% reduce allows Linden Lab to make use of round 160 individuals.

“I began wanting into our numbers and it seems we now have eclipsed some fairly large milestones,” Oberwager mentioned. “Whereas Roblox is 500 instances our dimension (in day by day energetic customers), they’ve solely paid out 10 instances greater than us when it comes to payouts to creators final 12 months.” (On a trailing 12 months foundation).

As of June 30, 2024, Roblox has shared $2.8 billion with the neighborhood since 2018. Throughout the identical interval, Second Life has paid out about $500 million. Meaning in that point that Roblox paid out 5.6 instances as a lot as Second Life.

Roblox mentioned it paid out $803 million to creators in 12 months ending June 30, 2024. About 20,000 Roblox customers take part in its DevEx program. Oberwager mentioned Second Life has paid out $79 million up to now 12 months ending June 2024.

Roblox has about 145 instances extra customers than are in Second Life (which is someplace round 600,000 gamers). And Roblox has a 27% income share for these creating video games. And for these creating avatar objects and paid entry experiences, Roblox shares as much as 70%.

Roblox famous these shares don’t consider the instruments, internet hosting, distribution, platform charges, and different providers Roblox offers which is completely different from conventional fashions. These providers are included within the share that Roblox takes as its price (Linden Lab didn’t embrace these both).

Linden Lab has been round longer (Roblox was based in 2004, whereas Rosedale began Linden Lab in 1999). It has had extra time to speculate, whereas Roblox has had a extra spectacular progress charge. However the comparisons are enlightening.

In consequence, Linden Lab’s calculations about its economic system are fairly spectacular in comparison with Roblox. About 30% of Second Life creators earn over $1,000 yearly, in comparison with 0.2% for Roblox. And seven.4% of Second Life creators earn over $10,000 yearly (in comparison with Roblox’s 0.07%). Roblox mentioned It could be extra correct to match in opposition to the 20,000 within the DevEx program. Oberwager mentioned Second Life’s quantity to match in opposition to is 26,000.

By Oberwager’s calculations, this implies creators in Second Life are 100 instances extra prone to earn over $10,000 than on Roblox. And they’re 27 instances extra prone to turn out to be a millionaire. Oberwager thinks it is a large assertion about equity and alternative. Second Life’s payout system creates an egalitarian surroundings, the place mid-tier and top-tier earnings are much more accessible.

Neither firm has accomplished its 12 months but so the numbers for now are tough comparisons. However Rosedale mentioned it’s price noting that Second Life turned worthwhile inside six years, and through that point the corporate had solely raised $25 million and it nonetheless acquired to profitability in 2005.

“We’ve spent over a billion {dollars} investing in Second Life as of this 12 months. What we’ve spent will not be what Roblox has spent, however it’s not far off,” Oberwager mentioned. “The rationale why our payouts are shut is we’ve spent all this cash to help the creators.”

He mentioned the purpose of that isn’t to bash Roblox. Slightly, it exhibits the completely different paths that firms can tackle the highway to the metaverse and the way they’ll embrace user-generated content material. Previously 12 months, Second Life paid out about $78 million to creators, and the general economic system is near 10 instances that quantity. On the whole, Second Life’s GDP has been fairly secure, Rosedale mentioned.

“This implies the chance within the lengthy tail of a content material creator being profitable locally of Roblox might be decrease due to the numbers being the inhabitants,” mentioned Rosedale. “For those who’re tremendous captivated with creating 3D content material and being profitable by doing it in a digital world, you’re most likely higher off coming to Second Life.”

So far as the place the Linden Lab spending occurs, that’s a more durable query to reply. Linden Lab has to spend to make present gamers joyful and likewise spend cash to draw new gamers.

“We’re competing with all the opposite issues that folks assume are social,” Oberwager mentioned.

The place Linden Lab spent its $1.3 billion

Rosedale stepped down as CEO some in 2008. In 2022, Oberwager acquired the corporate that Rosedale had began, Excessive Constancy, and Rosedale rejoined Linden Lab as a strategic advisers. The largest the corporate ever was below Rosedale was round 350 staff. Throughout its completely different cycles, Linden Lab spent cash on completely different sorts of initiatives, some that didn’t pan out.

Greater than a decade in the past, below CEO Rod Humble, Linden Lab began diversifying and creating its personal video games for gamers to play exterior of Second Life. And it additionally appointed Ebbe Altberg as CEO in 2014. Altberg created a venture referred to as Sansar as a sort of sequel to Second Life, with VR experiences that existed by way of net hyperlinks somewhat than inside a digital world. However Sansar finally failed and was spun off, whereas Altberg died from an sickness in June 2021. Later, Oberwager acquired Linden Lab.

“It feels now like we now have extra individuals engaged on the core parts of Second Life than we did earlier than,” Rosedale mentioned.

Oberwager mentioned the corporate continues to put money into its world. He mentioned that AI goes to affect each business and he foresees it impacting digital worlds within the type of affecting non-player character conduct and the method of making issues on the earth. Rosedale mentioned that AI might be useful in dealing with bother tickets and categorizing what must be mounted, however people must finally make things better.

Evaluating revenue within the completely different worlds

The per person revenue is attention-grabbing for Second Life. Primarily based on 2023 numbers, about 21,152 have generated revenue inside Second Life. About 6,446 have remodeled $1,000 up to now 12 months. About 1,580 have remodeled $10,000. A complete of 139 have remodeled $100,000, and 14 have remodeled $1 million. These numbers aren’t so distant from Roblox’s.

Many creators on Roblox are hobbyists. Of the hundreds of thousands of creators on Roblox, 20,000 are a part of the DevEx program, with the median creator receiving $1,645 in the course of the twelve months ended June 30, 2024. Roblox mentioned that it ranges the taking part in subject for builders by providing frictionless infrastructure, world distribution and improvement applied sciences at low upfront price. In contrast to different platforms the place builders incur bills for app retailer charges, cost processing, storage, internet hosting, infrastructure, moderation and security options – that is all lined by Roblox. It’s price mentioning that lots of Roblox’s customers are children.

This isn’t to say that Linden Lab has a a lot better enterprise than Roblox. Slightly, it tells us about completely different paths to the metaverse.

“If you wish to take into consideration a sustainable metaverse world that individuals are going to reside in, you need to see a better degree of spending per particular person, a extra blended combine between creator and shopper, one thing that appears extra like a farmer’s market or Etsy or one thing as a enterprise,” Rosedale mentioned.

Against this, the enterprise of Roblox in the present day consists of some winners and extra losers, sort of just like the triple-A sport enterprise in the present day, the place the percentages of any given particular person’s success are fairly low.

The spending per day by day energetic person in Roblox is round $12. In Second Life, it’s round $190. The problem is that the price of buying a brand new person in Roblox might be fairly excessive, Oberwager mentioned. Roblox challenged this notion, stating that its gross sales and advertising prices are low because it has not needed to spend some huge cash on person acquisition. Oberwager mentioned Second Life has spent nothing on buyer acquisition.

Roblox famous {that a} current survey of the developer neighborhood discovered that the first motivator for many Roblox creators will not be financial achieve. When requested about what motivates them to develop experiences on Roblox, having enjoyable ranked 4 instances greater than monetization. 

The benefit of Second Life’s gamers is that they aren’t churning out a lot. They’re devoted gamers and so they each create income and so they spend cash. That’s a fairly high-quality person. Rosedale mentioned a lot of the spending now could be devoted to creating the world extra accessible to extra individuals.