As an expert in the gaming industry, I have witnessed the meteoric rise of Grow a Garden, a game created by a 16-year-old in just a few days. This game has broken records for simultaneous players, surpassing even the most popular video games that take years and millions of dollars to develop. On May 21, Grow a Garden became the most popular game on Roblox, a massive platform with millions of active users. As I write this on Wednesday, Grow a Garden has around one million concurrent users (CCU), making it the top game on Roblox.
In fact, it has even surpassed all games on Steam except for Counter-Strike 2, according to SteamDB. But the success of Grow a Garden doesn't stop there. On May 17, this game had over 5 million active players, making it the first game on Roblox to achieve this feat. To put this into perspective, Grow a Garden was almost twice as popular as PUBG on its best day, which had just over 3.2 million active players and still holds the record on Steam. When Madsen, 28, bought Grow a Garden from BMWLux (the creator of Roblox) in April, it only had about 2,000 concurrent users.
However, since then, it has reached over 10 billion lifetime visits and holds the record for the fastest-growing experience on Roblox, reaching 1 billion visits in record time. A popular music video showed a classroom full of children eagerly waiting for an update to Grow a Garden. While some may be surprised that a game like this is reaching millions of players, the reality is that Roblox has become a massive platform. And for Roblox, which has faced criticism for not doing enough to protect children on its gaming service, Grow a Garden has been a kind of redemption. Along with new security measures such as chat restrictions and privacy tools, Grow a Garden has broken records for concurrent users, reaching 5 million, 7.3 million, and ultimately 8.9 million at the end of May. As a YouTuber with an audience of 5.3 million people, I have seen firsthand the popularity of Grow a Garden.
Leah Ashe, who plays this game and other popular titles, says that she loves completing tasks and achieving everything in the game. Before the release of Grow a Garden, Roblox's record for concurrent users in an experience was less than 5 million. But with this game's success, it has surpassed even the most popular games on Steam. It's worth noting that Grow a Garden's popularity soared around the same time that Take-Two Interactive announced the delay of its highly anticipated Grand Theft Auto 6 until next year. This could be a coincidence, but it's clear that Grow a Garden has captured the attention of millions of players worldwide. As an expert in the gaming industry, I believe that Roblox can be a positive experience for children with proper supervision and guidance.
It allows them to create their own designs and even practice programming skills. And analysts who follow Roblox stock say that Grow a Garden is not only increasing the company's revenues but also exceeding Wall Street expectations for quarterly profits. The success of Grow a Garden is undeniable. This game, based on Roblox, reached a new record level of simultaneous users on the platform with 21.3 million on June 21. And just one day before that, on May 18, it released its Blood Moon update, breaking the previous record for CCU in a Roblox game (previously held by Blox Fruits). By the end of June, Grow a Garden had reached an astonishing 21.6 million simultaneous players, surpassing even the record set by Fortnite. However, with such success comes scrutiny.
When Grow a Garden reached 5 million CCU, investment firm TD Cowen alleged that fraudulent bot activities had artificially inflated its visibility in Roblox's game recommendation algorithm. They pointed to increased account creation rates in the Philippines and Indonesia. While this may be a concern, it doesn't take away from the fact that Grow a Garden has become a global sensation and a record-breaking success.
