Latest news with #JanzenMadsen
Express Tribune
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Grow a Garden becomes one of Roblox's most played games as millions engage with virtual gardening
Grow a Garden, a farming simulation on Roblox, has quickly risen to become one of the platform's most visited games. Since its March 2025 release, the title has surpassed 9 billion visits and achieved record-breaking concurrent player counts, overtaking games such as Fortnite and PUBG. Developed by Janzen Madsen and Splitting Point Studios in New Zealand, the game originated from a Roblox user project and was later expanded by a professional team. The gameplay allows users to grow virtual plants and pets, purchase seeds with in-game currency (Sheckles), and even trade or steal from other gardens. Offline growth features and a calm in-game environment have helped differentiate it from more action-heavy titles. Fans credit its success to the game's accessibility, strategic progression, and social elements. Live events and competitive leaderboards also contribute to its appeal, particularly among younger users who enjoy comparing progress with friends. Many of the game's players are aged 13 and under, according to Roblox data. Some players have also highlighted the in-game economy and Robux purchases as a significant part of gameplay, allowing for faster progression and access to rare items. Meanwhile, critics have questioned the game's educational value and its use of paid mechanics. Some netizens have expressed concern over monetisation and its potential effect on children's financial understanding. Although some appreciate the game's relaxing pace and satisfying growth mechanics, it remains uncertain whether Grow a Garden encourages real-life gardening or financial understanding in its young player base.
Otago Daily Times
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Millions going mad for NZ-made garden game
When Grow a Garden had 20 million people playing it at once last weekend, it became one of the most popular games of the year. It surpassed previous records of concurrent players set by the hugely popular battle title, Fortnite. The New York Times pointed out that's 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. The company picked up Grow a Garden when it had just a few thousand users, the 28-year-old told Morning Report. 'The game was created by a 16-year-old in three or four days. I'd known him previously, and we partnered together, he still helps out on the game, he's still part of the development from pretty early on.' A 'big team effort' took the game from a few thousand to millions of players, he says. 'We've got a bunch of people at the company that are extremely talented, that have worked with us for five to 10 years.' According to Roblox, the game has had about 9 billion visits since it was created in March, the BBC reported. It said 35 percent of Grow a Garden's players up until now have been aged 13 and under. Seeing that many people playing concurrently was 'pretty awesome". 'The reason that many people are playing? I don't know, it's like a moment in gaming that is pretty unique,' Nelson-born Madsen says. 'For like active players in the game at one time, I guess this weekend we beat them [Fortnite] by 5 million, maybe 6 million players, so yeah, it is really crazy.' Grow a Garden involves players slowly developing a little patch of virtual land on the online gaming platform, Roblox. Once your garden produces a harvest, you can sell your items. You can also steal from the gardens of others. Gameplay can be sped up if you use Robux, the Roblox currency, which is paid for with real money. Madsen puts Grow a Garden's popularity down to the fact it's built by gamers for gamers. 'Often these games that these big studios put out are like just run by investors and they don't necessarily like align to what players want, they just want to juice them for as much money as they can. 'This game is run by a bunch of passionate developers that just want to build something for gamers and it's a community.' US-based Roblox is one of the world's largest games platforms. At the start of 2025, nearly 90 million people were active in the virtual universe. This included about 34 million children under 13 who spent an average of 2.6 hours daily on the platform. Roblox recently introduced a range of new safety features to reduce the risk of harm to children.
Otago Daily Times
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
'Created by a 16yo in three or four days': Millions going mad for NZ-made garden game
When Grow a Garden had 20 million people playing it at once last weekend, it became one of the most popular games of the year. It surpassed previous records of concurrent players set by the hugely popular battle title, Fortnite. The New York Times pointed out that's 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. The company picked up Grow a Garden when it had just a few thousand users, the 28-year-old told Morning Report. 'The game was created by a 16-year-old in three or four days. I'd known him previously, and we partnered together, he still helps out on the game, he's still part of the development from pretty early on.' A 'big team effort' took the game from a few thousand to millions of players, he says. 'We've got a bunch of people at the company that are extremely talented, that have worked with us for five to 10 years.' According to Roblox, the game has had about 9 billion visits since it was created in March, the BBC reported. It said 35 percent of Grow a Garden's players up until now have been aged 13 and under. Seeing that many people playing concurrently was 'pretty awesome". 'The reason that many people are playing? I don't know, it's like a moment in gaming that is pretty unique,' Nelson-born Madsen says. 'For like active players in the game at one time, I guess this weekend we beat them [Fortnite] by 5 million, maybe 6 million players, so yeah, it is really crazy.' Grow a Garden involves players slowly developing a little patch of virtual land on the online gaming platform, Roblox. Once your garden produces a harvest, you can sell your items. You can also steal from the gardens of others. Gameplay can be sped up if you use Robux, the Roblox currency, which is paid for with real money. Madsen puts Grow a Garden's popularity down to the fact it's built by gamers for gamers. 'Often these games that these big studios put out are like just run by investors and they don't necessarily like align to what players want, they just want to juice them for as much money as they can. 'This game is run by a bunch of passionate developers that just want to build something for gamers and it's a community.' US-based Roblox is one of the world's largest games platforms. At the start of 2025, nearly 90 million people were active in the virtual universe. This included about 34 million children under 13 who spent an average of 2.6 hours daily on the platform. Roblox recently introduced a range of new safety features to reduce the risk of harm to children.
Straits Times
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Grow A Garden, Gen Alpha's FarmVille, is growing like crazy in Roblox
Grow A Garden is the first major Roblox game to integrate offline growth, which encourages players to return to see changes. PHOTO: ROBLOX NEW YORK – 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 pixellated 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 2025. 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 in mid-June. It is a genuinely shocking feat. That number is more than online game 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. Sheckles 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 more than US$100 (S$129) on eBay listings for the cosmic-looking Candy Blossom Tree and Titanic Dragonflies. At its peak, Grow A Garden had more than triple the population of New Zealand, the home of Mr Janzen Madsen, who runs Splitting Point Studios, which scouts and acquires rising games on the platform. When the 28-year-old 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 Mr 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.' His team of about 20 people scaled the game, fixing bugs and adding key elements such as daily quests. And it is still tinkering. Mr 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. He 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. According to Madsen's data, about 35 per cent of its sizeable player base is aged 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 such as American online streamer and YouTuber 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, Grow A Garden 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.' NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
The Star
20-06-2025
- 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.
