Roblox farming simulator Grow a Garden is attracting hundreds of thousands of gamers throughout PC, cellular, and console gadgets, eclipsing numbers achieved by a few of the hottest video games on any platform – so what precisely is it?
For those who load up Roblox at any time on any day in the subsequent week, there’s a good likelihood round 2 million folks will likely be taking part in Grow a Garden in some capability. That’s based on the official consumer tracker discovered on all Roblox experiences, which vegetation the colourful free-to-play recreation firmly atop trending charts in a number of classes. These are numbers that see the free-to-play recreation leaving different Roblox tasks in its mud, with the second-most-popular “Taking part in Now” expertise, Brookhaven RP, displaying 590,000 gamers at the time of this piece’s publication.
Pulling 1.5 million gamers is a formidable feat, and it’s additionally on the low finish for Grow a Garden.
The farming simulator peaked at more than 8.8 million active users final weekend, annihilating solely competing experiences but a number of lively consumer data, beginning when it crossed the 5 million lively customers mark earlier this month. The 16-year-old behind Grow a Garden launched it March 25, 2025. It has since been visited 3.4 billion occasions.
For comparability, Counter-Strike 2, at the moment the hottest Steam recreation, reached its all-time peak simply final month at slightly below 1.86 million gamers (by way of SteamDB). PUBG: Battlegrounds holds the trophy for the highest-ever lively participant rely on Valve’s PC storefront, and even its peak topped out at 3.25 million gamers in 2018.
Grow a Garden continues to be trailing behind the free-to-play battle royale megaton that’s Fortnite, which boasts a peak lively participant rely of 15.3 million from an event held in 2020. Grow a Garden isn’t fairly at the high of the mountain, but it’s climbing – and quick. It’s not less than one other vital piece of proof that the Roblox platform is one to be taken critically, as hundreds of thousands proceed to flock to the dense forest of content material it presents.
What Do You Do in Grow a Garden?
In Grow a Garden, you – in case you can consider it – develop a backyard. There’s little complexity to the gameplay system at the moment setting Roblox ablaze. It’s not one more anime tie-in or tower-defense expertise but as a substitute a easy farming recreation with a tutorial that lays out every thing that you must know in simply a few seconds.
Every participant is plopped into a server with a handful of different Roblox customers, with everybody granted their very own plot of land to start their backyard on. Whereas new gamers are gifted 20 Sheckles, Grow a Garden’s in-game forex, to buy easy seeds for greens like carrots, it’s additionally virtually instantly clear how far you may take the premise, as different gamers’ fenced-in areas will typically be brimming with towering timber, bamboo, vigorous fruits, and extra. Progress takes time, but gardens will repeatedly flourish, even when a participant is offline, till picked.
Grow a carrot and promote it, and also you’ll revenue a few Sheckles. Rinse, repeat, and earn sufficient for blueberries, then mangos, then orange tulips, then grapes, then peppers, and so forth. The satisfaction comes from the tangible progress you may see in your backyard – and cash – in actual time. It’s a far-from-unique cycle distilled into its purest type, although there’s extra to do for these seeking to dig for it.
Customizing a backyard may be so simple as organizing your yard by coloration, top, or kind, or taste may be added with non-compulsory beauty objects, instruments, and pets. Updates and occasions hold gamers coming again for extra, as do climate modifiers that may probably improve the worth of your crops. Each gameplay wrinkle is a part of the system that has seen Grow a Garden’s participant base balloon to ranges exceptional in Roblox’s blocky world. Not everybody understands it, but the success is simple.
Who Made Grow a Garden?
The 16-year-old who first broke floor with Grow a Garden stays creatively concerned in what it’s develop into but is now not the solely identify hooked up. Sharing duties are Roblox expertise administration firm DoBig Studios and well-liked developer Janzen Madsen (a.ok.a. Jandel) and his community of creators at Splitting Point. These are main gamers in the house, but Grow a Garden caught out to Madsen earlier than it exploded.
“The sport was developed by a 16-year-old in a few days, and we noticed the recreation when it was on about 1,000, 2,000 CCUs,” Madsen tells us, describing Grow a Garden’s lively gamers, “and we simply partnered with that developer, inbuilt a live-ops plan, did some basic updates to the recreation, and, just about, the relaxation is historical past.”
It was right here the now-gargantuan farming expertise started to plant its roots, as the 20-person workforce at Splitting Level started to assist create a basis for progress. That’s to not say the unique, nameless developer stopped being concerned.
“I truly assume they’re, creatively, fairly unimaginable,” Madsen stated when describing how improvement duties are shared. “I believe they create a fairly distinctive perspective to the recreation, and I believe there’s possibly a generational hole between me and them. Everybody has… I might say it’s virtually equal, truthfully, by way of, we get on a name, we plan an replace – it’s in all probability not what you’d count on. Typically we’re planning the replace week to week, ?”
Madsen can’t nail down what triggered Grow a Garden’s meteoric rise, largely as a result of “it occurred so shortly,” but factors to tight replace methods and occasions as dependable attracts for Roblox gamers. Latest examples embody bringing in a DJ for leisure and organizing a mass dance celebration in hopes of breaking a world document. Each replace presents a possibility to create a second that sucks gamers in whereas making them really feel concerned in the journey.
This goes out to all the haters at GDC from 2022-2024 in case you aren’t taking Roblox critically then you’re getting left behind! pic.twitter.com/6MeE1vVABL
— Jandel – Roblox (@jandelRblx) May 17, 2025
The small free-to-play venture with humble beginnings finally exploded into the largest recreation in Roblox historical past. There’s a full-on operation sustaining its success to make sure its hundreds of thousands of followers proceed displaying up, and the builders aren’t tending to it without spending a dime. Though Madsen declined to share the particulars concerning Grow a Garden’s earnings previous an acknowledgement of Roblox’s previously established cut of in-game spending, the expertise presents greater than a few clear methods for gamers to spend real-world money.
Practically each merchandise of curiosity may be bought with the Roblox premium forex often called Robux, Grow a Garden’s main supply of revenue. On PC, $5 translates to 500 Robux, with seed costs starting from seven to 715 Robux and decorations like crates and campfires asking for 119 and 149 Robux. There are additionally seed packs and eggs that may be bought one at a time or in packs, basically serving as loot containers containing particular crops and pets, respectively. Most these things can nonetheless be bought with in-game Sheckles, even when the price ticket can typically attain numbers larger than Grow a Garden’s participant common participant rely. It’s unclear how a lot gamers are spending to equipment out their farms, but with not less than 1.5 million customers taking part in at any second, we will guess it’s in all probability a lot.
Climbing the Beanstalk
Grow a Garden is pulling consideration the likes of which Roblox has by no means seen, but success is much from a international idea on this platform. New experiences flood in each day, and whereas lots of them by no means attain the high of trending charts, loads of others, comparable to Blue Lock: Rivals and Gown to Impress, nonetheless boast tons of of hundreds of engaged gamers months after launch. Roblox isn’t a gaming contemporary phenomenon – it’s been right here for years, and it’s solely attracting extra consideration.
Nonetheless, reaching round almost 9 million lively customers is so unbelievable that many have questioned the legitimacy of Grow a Garden’s success. Some have recommended bots have performed a function in inflated numbers and fabricated reputation, but Roblox says this isn’t the case.
“Grow a Garden’s international success is fueled by distinctive consumer retention, vibrant social interactions — with mates driving play — and powerful Robux engagement,” a Roblox spokesperson informed Game File. “Our preliminary evaluation confirms real reputation, not synthetic inflation, validating the recreation’s genuine community-driven progress.”
Whereas these on the exterior increase eyebrows at Roblox’s attraction to avid gamers, Madsen says he has labored to legitimize the platform he calls dwelling for the majority of the time he’s been on this house. He sees Roblox as each a slice of gaming that’s gone ignored and a hub for creativity.
“Most individuals’s first impression of Roblox is, ‘That is a foolish platform for youths, and there’s no depth to the gameplay or video games,’ and I believe legitimately a few of the finest recreation designers in the world are on Roblox making video games,” Madsen defined. “It’s like, ‘Yeah, they give the impression of being easy, but they’re truly like… they’re fixing onerous issues there in the platform. They’re pushing the boundaries.’
“Have a look at AAA. No one takes huge dangers, ? On daily basis on Roblox, there’s a new idea or a new recreation out – I believe it’s type of cool. I believe it’s simple to evaluate from the exterior with out actually taking a few weeks to have a look at it.”
Even if Grow a Garden has already bloomed to its fullest extent, it’s little doubt planted the seeds for different Roblox experiences to achieve and even exceed its excessive bar. Whereas we await it to develop, you may learn up on all lively Grow a Garden codes right here.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He is finest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Remember to give him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).