How a Las Vegas startup built a Roblox empire

At 20 years old, Alex Hicks faced a problem most college students never encounter: The online games he was creating were generating six figures in revenue every month.

So he dropped out.

Today, Hicks is a co-founder of Twin Atlas, a Las Vegas-based game studio with roughly 110 employees that develops some of the most-played experiences on Roblox, an online gaming platform used by more than 150 million people daily. The platform has over a million games ranging from obstacle courses and roleplay to dress-up and horror.

And, if you don’t know what Roblox is, your kid surely does.

From a colorful office in Las Vegas, Twin Atlas has created games that have attracted billions of visits, partnered with brands including Netflix and MrBeast, and grown into one of Roblox’s top independent studios.

Twin Atlas is part of a growing creator economy in which developers earn money through Roblox’s virtual currency system and brand partnerships. The company illustrates how a platform once viewed primarily as a children’s game has evolved into a business ecosystem capable of supporting full-time careers, venture-backed studios and global entertainment franchises.

“Roblox isn’t a single game but a repository or platform that offers lots of games,” said Benjamin Burroughs, associate professor of emerging media at UNLV’s Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies. “The variety is staggering.”

Twin Atlas itself has created a myriad of games, with variety as wide ranging as the platform has to offer. Their most notable are Creatures of Sonaria, which has 1.9 billion visits, and Robloxian High School with 1.4 billion visits.

One of the main challenges when it comes to Roblox development is the constant trend cycle and metabolism for games. But, the cream rises, and Hicks and his team at Twin Atlas have created some of the top games on the platform, alongside calling Las Vegas its home.

How do you make money on Roblox?

Roblox creators earn money through the Developer Exchange program, which allows them to convert “Robux”, the platform’s in-game currency, into real money. Players buy Robux to spend on items and perks within games.

It’s an example of platform-based creator content, where work is produced and monetized within a single ecosystem. YouTube operates similarly through its AdSense program, allowing creators to earn revenue from ads on their videos.

The game Bathe Da Baby, changed from Bake Da Baby, is another example of unprecedented popularity and revenue, according to Burroughs, or games like Dress to Impress, which saw massive social media attention in 2024. Really, anything in the top charts is sure to be raking in the dough.

“It isn’t just a pipedream being sold without any results — there are real success stories,” said Burroughs.

Twin Atlas also makes money through partnerships with companies, who hire them to make games for their brand or company.

But, DevEx still brings in the most cash for them.

While they did not provide salary ranges, Twin Atlas is able to provide a solid quality of life for its employees, Hicks said.

“I don’t think we’re quite in the Silicon Valley tech area yet,” he said. “But in terms of being able to do Roblox as a full-time job, people are absolutely able to do that and able to afford what they need.”

Roblox also has growing ties to Nevada. The company reincorporated in the state in 2025.

“We believe that Nevada’s corporate law framework and statutory regime provide a stable and predictable legal environment in which the Company can focus on innovation and growth,” said a Roblox spokesperson. “The proposal was recommended following a rigorous and thoughtful analysis by our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and our Board of Directors.”

Earlier this year, Roblox agreed to implement additional child-safety measures and provide $12.5 million in funding and support programs to resolve a lawsuit brought by Nevada. The agreement includes age verification requirements, restrictions on certain communications involving minors and an online-safety awareness campaign.

Child safety remains one of the platform’s biggest criticisms.

“Games are often designed with monetization in mind and have aggressive in-game purchase mechanics,” said Burroughs. “Ultimately this is all targeting a young audience that may not be supervised or can best evaluate spending decisions.”

Founding of Red Manta and Twin Atlas

Twin Atas’ founders all started the same way: as kids making games for fun.

Hicks, 29, chief design officer, and Adam Schneider, 26, chief technical officer, began making games at an early age, teaching themselves along the way.

Schneider grew up near Roblox’s headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area and spent time on campus learning about game development and meeting other creators. By 11, he had taught himself programming using online resources and YouTube.

Hicks, originally from Canada, discovered Roblox through an ad in 2009 and quickly became interested in building games. He later enrolled in college but dropped out after finding success on the platform.

Roblox Studio is accessible to beginners, offering pre-designed assets like cars, swords, rocket launchers, that can be dragged and dropped into games.

“You could essentially build something and be playing it with friends the same day,” Hicks said.

Both started as hobbyists, until it wasn’t just a hobby anymore. Their paths crossed when Hicks was developing their game Robloxian High School. Schneider applied to join the project and they spent about two years working on it before it took off.

That’s when the money started to roll in.

“So, the game started making significant amounts of money, like in the six-figure range every month,” Hicks said. “I think I was 19 or 20, and I thought, ‘What am I supposed to do with all this money?’”

From there, Hicks and Schneider co-founded the Roblox studio Red Manta in 2018, originally based in the Bay Area. In 2022, the studio merged with Las Vegas–based Sonar Studios, founded by Samuel Garcia, to form Twin Atlas. Garcia now serves as chief executive officer of the combined companies.

The rest of the team then relocated to Las Vegas.

“We realized we had the same thing going: a group of homegrown creators who grew up on Roblox and love building games,” Hicks said.

The merger created what they describe as a “super studio,” plus Las Vegas provided lower taxes and cost of living than anywhere in California.

“Every year has been crazier,” said Schneider. “We’ve released so many games, and obviously we have this great studio now.”

Inside Twin Atlas

The Twin Atlas office is a gamers paradise. The front lobby has a colorful mural with art from their games, offices are filled with knick-knacks like Legos and plushes, cubicles are bustling with laughter and LED lights line the walls.

Currently, the company has around 110 employees — most under the age of 30 — including a mixture of full-time and independent contractors spread throughout the globe. Although, many of them have known each other for 10-plus years, or since they first started tinkering around on the platform.

With Twin Atlas’ success, they were able to take their jobs and friendships offline and into the office.

“You can get a lot more done in person, I think, than, like, on a voice call,” said Schneider. “Having a physical space definitely improves the communication a lot more than virtual. Not to say virtual can’t work, because that’s how we got here.”

The company has a “laid-back culture,” said Hicks, with most employees working within the typical, nocturnal gamer schedule, rather than working nine-to-five. Hicks said people “roll in” when they feel like it, trusting them to get their work done.

It’s the small things that keep people satisfied at the company; recently the company rolled out DoorDash credits so people can get food delivered for free, Schneider said.

“People are just happy to be here,” he said. “It’s kind of stuff like that, just like the small details outside of working that just kind of make a fun social group.”

Twin Atlas has racked up quite the accolades, as well. In 2023, the studio won Best Studio at the Roblox Innovation Awards and Best Immersive Experience for one of their driving games. They are one of the top shops on e-commerce platform Shopify, selling merchandise based on their games, such as dragons from one of their top games Creatures of Sonaria. Additionally, they have a “YouTube plaque,” which is awarded to creators who reach such milestones as 100,000 or 1 million subscribers.

One of the main challenges when it comes to Roblox development is the constant trend cycle and metabolism for games.

“All games and platforms have life cycles,” said Burroughs. “The challenge is to keep kids who are pre-teens and then teens connected to the platform.”

And, Twin Atlas is well-poised to handle the ever-changing platform, constantly making new games and pushing out updates to stay ahead of the curve and keep audiences engaged. In June, they launched a game based on the world famous anime “Attack on Titan” and a partnership with Mattel to develop a Masters of the Universe-themed game.

But for now, Las Vegans can say they have a slice of Roblox history in their backyard.