About This Episode
<p class="font-claude-response-body">Dave Baszucki is co-founder and CEO of Roblox, the user-generated gaming platform where all the games are built by the community itself. With over 100 million daily active users and projected revenue bookings of $7 billion this year, it is one of the largest gaming economies in the world—and one that has made millionaires out of teenage developers in Argentina, South Korea, and everywhere in between.</p> <p class="font-claude-response-body">Tyler and Dave explore why Roblox decided early against prioritizing advertising revenue, why Dave thinks the main competition of Roblox is its own execution speed rather than Fortnite, whether every mega platform inevitably becomes an everything app, how falling token costs will change the platform, why he insists all the games on Roblox are beautiful, whether Robux should have a floating exchange rate, why admitting you have kids under 13 on your platform turns out to be a competitive advantage, why he's skeptical of blanket social media bans, what his son's experience with bipolar disorder taught him about metabolic health, his two-year sabbatical between companies that involved a motorhome trip across North America and a stint hosting talk radio in Santa Cruz, why <em>Mutiny on the Bounty</em> remains one of his favorite books, what he'll learn next, and much more.</p> <p class="p1"><em>Read a <a href="https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/dave-baszucki/">full transcript</a> enhanced with helpful links, or watch the <a href="https://youtu.be/KL7WBjAuTMg">full video</a> on the new dedicated Conversations with Tyler channel.</em></p> <p class="p1"><em>Recorded May 27th, 2026</em><em>.</em></p> <p class="p1"><strong>Other ways to connect</strong></p> <ul> <li class="p1">Follow us on <a href="https://twitter.com/cowenconvos">X</a> and <a href="https://www.instagram.com/cowenconvos/?hl=en">Instagram</a></li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/tylercowen">Tyler</a> on X</li> <li class="p1">Follow <a href="https://x.com/DavidBaszucki">Dave</a> on X</li> <li><a class="c-link" href="https://mercatus.tfaforms.net/5060931" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Sign up for our newsletter</a></li> <li>Join our <a href="https://discord.gg/JAVWP7vTxt">Discord</a></li> <li class="p1">Email us: <a class="c-link" href="mailto:cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu" rel="noopener noreferrer" tabindex="-1" target="_blank">cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu</a></li> <li class="p1">Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts <a href="https://www.mercatus.org/podcasts">here</a>.</li> </ul> <p>Timestamps:</p> <p>00:00:00 - Intro</p> <p>00:00:44 - Roblox by the Numbers</p> <p>00:08:54 - Competition</p> <p>00:12:13 - Everything Apps</p> <p>00:19:50 - AI Language Translation</p> <p>00:21:18 - Token Costs </p> <p>00:24:01 - Beauty and Gaming</p> <p>00:27:01 - Robux</p> <p>00:29:28 - Social Media and Younger Audiences</p> <p>00:40:56 - AI and Gaming</p> <p>00:45:44 - Mutiny on the Bounty</p> <p>00:47:38 - David's Earlier Companies</p> <p>00:51:16 - Mentors</p> <p>00:52:35 - Outro</p>