How Minecraft and Roblox Captured Gen Z Attention
If you want to understand Gen Z attention, don’t start with TV ratings or banner ads—start with blocks and UGC. Minecraft and Roblox are more than games; they’re participatory platforms where creation, socializing, and commerce converge. They’ve also captured an astonishing share of youth attention: in the U.S., 85% of teens say they play video games, and ~4 in 10 play daily. That’s a cultural gravity well—and these two titles sit near the center of it. (Pew Research Center)
Let’s unpack how they did it, why it works for Gen Z, and what product managers can borrow for their own roadmaps.
The scale (and stickiness) is jaw‑dropping
Minecraft has officially sold 300+ million copies—the best‑selling video game of all time. Mojang’s own blog marked the milestone at Minecraft Live 2023. (Minecraft.net)
Roblox is an attention machine: 111.8 million daily active users (DAUs) in Q2 2025 and 27.4 billion hours engaged that quarter. For 2024, users spent 73.5 billion hours on Roblox—~2.4 hours per DAU per day on average. (Yes, per day.) (Roblox Investor Relations)
Both live symbiotically with creator video: in 2020 YouTube Gaming hit 100 billion hours watched, with Minecraft the #1 most‑watched game at ~201 billion views; Roblox was #2 with ~75 billion. A year later, Minecraft content surpassed 1 trillion lifetime views on YouTube. (blog.youtube)
Translation for PMs: if attention is the currency, these platforms are the reserve banks.
Why Gen Z picked these sandboxes
1) They put making before marketing
Roblox’s north star long predates the “metaverse” buzzword. CEO David Baszucki described the company’s aim as “Powering Imagination,” and—years before the hype—said they were “creating the world’s best virtual universe for imagining with friends.” That’s a product thesis, not a slogan. (Roblox Investor Relations)
Minecraft’s design creed is similarly creator‑first. Jens “Jeb” Bergensten (Minecraft’s longtime creative lead) told TIME: “It’s fun to find things, but it’s really boring to look for them.” He’s also blunt about not chasing sequels: “If we were to make a ‘Minecraft 2,’ we’d be our own worst enemy.” The team grows the game “slowly in all directions,” so everyone—from Redstone tinkerers to explorers—can keep their identity. (TIME)
PM takeaway: design for agency. Give users tools and a reason to use them together. Don’t ship a content treadmill; ship systems.
2) Creation is a multiplayer sport
Roblox turned 2006 hobby tools into a modern user‑generated content (UGC) economy. At RDC 2025, the company said creators collectively earned over $1 billion in the last 12 months, with 100+ games making over $1 million annually—a classic long‑tail flywheel. (Reuters)
Minecraft’s UGC gravity lives everywhere: mods, servers, Marketplace packs, and the giant second‑order effect—YouTube creators. The platform’s one‑trillion‑views milestone wasn’t an accident; it’s the result of a design that lets players turn sessions into stories. (YouTube)
PM takeaway: pay and promote your builders. UGC thrives when creation tools are simple, distribution is native, and money flows back to creators.
3) Social by default (and safer each year)
Roblox frames itself as an “immersive platform for connection,” and it keeps raising the bar on safety & civility (age gates, verification, and 100+ safety initiatives shipped since January 2025). Why? Because parents and policymakers watch closely when millions of kids hang out in 3D. (Roblox Investor Relations)
PM takeaway: if your product is a digital third place, safety is table stakes. Build trust features into the product, not the PR.
4) Frictionless cross‑everything
Roblox has been “everywhere” for a decade—PC, mobile, console, and even VR back in 2016—because the team kept shipping cross‑platform capability. Minecraft’s split (Java & Bedrock) is a history lesson in platform reality, but the intent has always been parity and play‑anywhere. (Roblox Investor Relations)
PM takeaway: cross‑platform = compounding retention. Don’t make users re‑learn or re‑buy the same experience.
5) They mirror Gen Z media habits
Gen Z spends more time with UGC and social video than older cohorts; nearly half prefer social media videos and live streams over traditional TV. Games that behave like social platforms—not just products—fit that clock. (Deloitte)
PM takeaway: if your audience is Gen Z, build creator feeds, live moments, and share‑out hooks (clips, highlights) into your core loop.
Lessons that transfer beyond gaming (a PM playbook)
1) Measure TTFF—Time to First Fun
You know TTFC for APIs; games have TTFF. Roblox’s first‑session loop is turnkey: pick an experience, join friends, play. Minecraft’s first ten minutes are “punch tree, build shelter, don’t die”—a universal story. A platform that achieves 2.4 hours/day per user didn’t get there with a 30‑minute setup. Instrument and obsess over your first five minutes. (SEC)
Tip: Make one “hello world” path unmistakable—auto‑recommended experiences, sample worlds, or guided templates.
2) Turn users into producers
Baszucki’s vision only worked because Roblox made creation low‑friction and monetizable. That’s not just nice for creators; it’s a defensive moat against content starvation. The $1B+ creator earnings stat matters because it closes the loop: people have a reason to build again. (Reuters)
Tip: Ship a revenue primitive (marketplace, tipping, premium upsells) early. Free tools + paid outcomes = sustained supply.
3) Build a video amplifier
Minecraft didn’t just ride YouTube; it shaped it. In 2020, Minecraft content hit ~201 billion views; in 2021, total Minecraft views passed 1 trillion. Roblox is the #2 juggernaut. Design updates and events that are fun to film: emergent systems, role‑play, replay tools, spectator modes. (Nintendo Life)
Tip: Add clip‑worthy affordances (photo modes, instant replay, watermarkless capture). Platforms like Roblox are even building native short‑form sharing to internalize that value. (Reuters)
4) Treat safety as a product surface
Age‑appropriate experiences, identity verification, and communication limits aren’t just compliance—they’re retention levers for teen‑centric platforms. Roblox’s recent plans to expand age estimation and restricted adult‑minor communication are notable steps. (Developer Forum | Roblox)
Tip: Make safety visible (status badges, verified groups) and controllable (parental dashboards, age‑aware defaults). It builds user and regulator trust.
5) Design for all ages, then let the product “age up”
Roblox says 55%+ of its users are now over 13, with 17–24 the fastest‑growing segment. That’s a platform deliberately aging with its audience—broadening content and deepening systems without losing the on‑ramp for kids. (Roblox)
Tip: Ship tiered depth. Keep the on‑ramp simple, but layer complexity (advanced tools, creator APIs, competitive ladders) for older cohorts.
6) Align with schools and learning (where it fits)
Minecraft’s educational angle isn’t lip service: research syntheses find it boosts engagement, collaboration, and problem‑solving, and the Education edition is used in 115–140+ countries. This becomes a durable attention pipeline (parents and teachers approve) and a new distribution channel. (education.minecraft.net)
Tip: If your product has STEM/creative cred, create school‑safe SKUs with curriculum, admin controls, and institutional pricing.
7) Ship platforms, not sequels
Bergensten’s “no Minecraft 2” stance is about continuity: communities don’t migrate easily. Roblox’s cadence is similar—ship capabilities (physics, voice, payments, ads) that creators remix, rather than boxed “v2s” that reset progress. (TIME)
Tip: Favor live, compounding roadmaps over big‑bang relaunches. Protect identity, inventory, and social graphs across upgrades.
8) Be everywhere (and consistent)
Roblox’s early cross‑platform push and Minecraft’s dual‑engine reality both underline an uncomfortable truth: distribution > dogma. Your users will bring their own devices; meet them there. (Roblox Investor Relations)
Tip: Prioritize input abstraction (controller/touch/mouse parity) and save portability. Cross‑progression prevents churn at device boundaries.
9) Make events and economy part of the core loop
Gen Z expects live ops. Roblox’s dev economy and recurring content drops (and now native short‑form video) keep things fresh. Minecraft uses updates, votes, and community reveals to turn patch notes into participatory festivals. (Reuters)
Tip: Calendar your beats (seasonal events, creator spotlights, limited drops). Give creators reasons to ship on a schedule.
10) Obsess over hours, not just installs
Roblox’s hours engaged metric explains more about product health than downloads ever will, especially for Gen Z (who spend a large share of their media diet on UGC/social). Track co‑play (time with friends), returning cohorts, and creator output. (Roblox Investor Relations)
Tip: Promote social onboarding (join friend in one tap, group recommendations). Co‑presence is retention rocket fuel.
What this means for “aspiring PMs”
Write a vision users can do. “Powering Imagination” wasn’t a billboard; it was a roadmap for tools, economy, and safety systems. If your vision can’t be expressed as product changes in the next two quarters, it’s not yet a product vision. (Roblox Investor Relations)
Pick the right primary metric. For Roblox, hours per user (and creator payouts) beat vanity MAUs. For Minecraft, community health showed up in YouTube and mod ecosystems as much as in sales. Tie your team’s bonuses to the metric that actually predicts retention and revenue. (SEC)
Let the community finish the product. It’s scary—and it works. (When creators earn $1B+ in a year, they’re not just partners; they’re your content strategy.) Build APIs, templates, and guidelines that make great outcomes likely without central planning. (Reuters)
Make streaming and sharing default. Your growth team shouldn’t bolt this on later. Design “clip moments” and provide official assets and rights guidance from day one. The creator economy is not a side channel for Gen Z; it’s the channel. (Nintendo Life)
Ship safety like a feature, not a policy. Verification, age‑aware defaults, and visible trust signals reduce friction for parents, schools, and brands—and keep regulators calm. Be proud of your safety roadmap notes; announce them like product wins (because they are). (Developer Forum | Roblox)
A few extra data points for context (and jokes for the road)
Gen Z & UGC: Nearly half of Gen Z say their favorite video content is social media videos and live streams; they spend ~50 minutes more per day on UGC/social than the average consumer. If your app feels like a museum brochure next to TikTok, guess which one gets opened. (Deloitte)
Roblox is aging up: More than 55% of users are now 13+, with 17–24 the fastest‑growing segment. The “kids’ game” quip is increasingly outdated—like your 2012 growth hack deck. (Roblox)
Minecraft in classrooms: Millions of educators and students across 115–140+ countries use Minecraft Education; research summaries highlight boosts in creativity and collaboration. It’s not just play; it’s practice. (And yes, homework built with blocks still counts.) (education.minecraft.net)
Closing thought
Minecraft and Roblox didn’t “capture Gen Z” with ads; they invited them to build. They didn’t guess what content teens wanted; they gave teens the tools (and creators the revenue) to make it. They didn’t chase sequels; they updated living platforms that respected identity and community. Or, as Minecraft’s Jeb put it, “grow slowly in all directions”—and let players decide what your product becomes. (TIME)
If you’re an aspiring PM, the blueprint is clear:
Ship agency.
Fuel creators.
Design for co‑play.
Instrument first‑session joy.
Treat safety as a product.
Turn updates into culture.
Do that, and you won’t just earn Gen Z attention—you’ll keep it. And in a world of infinite feeds, that’s the rarest block of all.