Latest news with #JanzenMadsen
The Star
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Star
Generation Alpha's 'FarmVille' is growing like crazy in 'Roblox'
Anyone older than 25 likely has fond – or madly frustrating – memories of playing FarmVille , the popular browser game that lets users grow virtual crops and herd pixelated animals. Agriculture aficionados can rejoice: Generation Alpha's FarmVille has arrived. Grow a Garden , a simplistic farming simulation that involves planting seeds and collecting exotic pets, has exploded as one of the most highly played titles of the year. Technically an 'experience' within the game-creation platform Roblox , it smashed its own record for concurrent users by reeling in 16.4 million active players on Saturday. It is a genuinely shocking feat. That number is more than Fortnite 's peak and greater than the concurrent player records of the top five Steam games combined. Grow a Garden 's allure might baffle anyone who has never toyed with slow-paced world-builders like Animal Crossing or Tomodachi Life. Players nurture a potpourri of plants and pets, which they can buy and sell in exchange for the in-game currency Sheckles, which can also be bought with Roblox's in-platform currency Robux (which can itself be purchased with real dollars). Plots begin barren before users transform them into fantastical safaris of shimmering frogs and prancing monkeys that each have their own special abilities. Suddenly, a player's dismal square brims with vibrant vegetation and beanstalks shooting into the sky. Numerous qualities elevate the game from a standard farm sim. It is the first major Roblox game to integrate offline growth, which encourages players to return to see changes. There are multiple time-sensitive components, including shops that restock with new items every five minutes and weekly drops (like the fruit-pollinating Bizzy Bees) with exclusive items that feel like can't-miss moments. Every little element has been shaped to keep people hooked, including blind-box pet eggs and the ability to steal things from other users' farms. These digital ranchers are so feverish that some have resorted to third-party sites to acquire the most legendary commodities. People have spent over US$100 (RM425) on eBay listings for the cosmic-looking Candy Blossom Tree and for Titanic Dragonflies. At its peak, Grow a Garden had more than triple the population of New Zealand, the home of Janzen Madsen, who runs Splitting Point Studios, which scouts and acquires rising games on the platform. When Madsen, 28, picked up Grow a Garden from the Roblox creator BMWLux in April, it had about 2,000 concurrent users. 'I was immediately like, 'Wow, this is pretty cool,'' said Madsen, who is also known as Jandel. 'Farming is pretty innate to humans. If you think about it, the past thousands and thousands of years, it's what everyone's done.' Madsen's team of about 20 people scaled the game, fixing bugs and adding key elements like daily quests. And it is still tinkering. Madsen teased an update involving dogs that would recover fossils that could be traded in for sand-themed fruits, and eventually a feature that allows people to trade items. He also wants to have celebrities host live events with him. Madsen has scaled many Roblox games, but nothing like this. He has seen people playing the game in real life, and all of his friends' children are loving it. 'To be platform-defining, or even industry-defining is crazy,' he said. As news about the game's record-obliterating player count spread across the internet, some were dubious about its legitimacy. But after comparisons with other games on Roblox , people have largely concluded that bots have not heavily contributed to Grow a Garden 's success. Some have theorised that the game is so popular because its bare-bones, subtly addictive gameplay appeals to a new, younger audience that is just starting to dominate Roblox . A popular video clip showed what looked like a classroom full of children sitting at computers excitedly awaiting a Grow a Garden update. Per Madsen's data, about 35% of its sizable player base is under 13. KreekCraft, a popular Roblox YouTuber, pointed to Grow a Garden 's popularity on TikTok and Shorts – full of juvenile, goofy clips of the game – as evidence of its younger users. 'Normally, whenever a Roblox game gets really popular, there's an equal reaction on the YouTube side of things,' said KreekCraft, whose real name is Forrest. Instead, there is barely any long-form content proportional to the game's success. Previous Roblox hits like Dress to Impress were buoyed by influencers like Kai Cenat, but this one is all short-form videos. 'It's a lot of younger kids coming in,' KreekCraft said. 'It's a very simple, straightforward, easy-to-understand game.' Still, the game is clearly beloved by people of all ages. Nobody has any clue how big it will become and how long it can continue this upward growth. 'It's definitely a Roblox game that came out of nowhere,' KreekCraft said in disbelief. 'It popped on the radar a few weeks ago and now it's broken every single Roblox record by miles. And it's just like, 'How did this happen? What is the ceiling here?' It blows my mind.' – ©2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Time of India
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Here's why Roblox's Garden Game just went mega viral and became bigger than counter-strike
What do carrots, a 16-year-old coder, and a casual game have in common? Apparently, a ticket to Roblox superstardom. Grow a Garden, the unexpectedly addictive farming simulator, is now dominating Roblox's charts, and not just by a little. It is outgrowing some of the biggest games on the planet. A simple idea that blew up If you log into Roblox today, chances are more than 2 million players are already watering their pixelated blueberries. Last weekend alone, Grow a Garden hit an eye-watering 8.8 million concurrent players, leaving even the likes of Counter-Strike 2 (1.86M) and PUBG (3.25M at its peak) looking like modest backyard operations. All this started when a 16-year-old developer released Grow a Garden on March 25, 2025. The game has since racked up over 3.4 billion visits. What is wild is that it is not even a flashy battle royale or anime crossover. It is just farming. And yet… it works. Gameplay: Just dirt, seeds, and a dream In Grow a Garden, each player gets a humble patch of land and 20 Sheckles (yes, that is the currency) to buy seeds, think carrots and basic crops. But as gardens blossom, so does the gameplay. Sell produce, earn more Sheckles, unlock cooler crops like mangoes, grapes, and even orange tulips. Your garden grows even when you are offline, so the progress is tangible, and endlessly satisfying. It is farming, but make it aesthetic, social, and subtly strategic. And unlike most Roblox hits, it is not trying to be an anime fighter or combat sim, it is softcore wholesome, and Gen Alpha is clearly obsessed. Behind the scenes: From teen project to Roblox royalty While the game's original creator is still involved, the meteoric rise caught the attention of DoBig Studios and Jandel's Splitting Point, major players in the Roblox scene. Janzen Madsen of Splitting Point said they noticed the game when it had just 2,000 concurrent users, and helped scale it with a proper live-ops strategy and regular updates. The rest, as they say, is garden-fuelled history. As it climbs closer to Fortnite-level numbers (15.3M peak), Grow a Garden is proof that Roblox is not just a platform, it is a global gaming force.
