Roblox's Grow a Garden Towers Above Even the Biggest Steam Games — but You Probably Have No Idea What It Is

Roblox farming simulator Grow a Garden is attracting millions of players crossed PC, mobile, and console devices, eclipsing numbers achieved by immoderate of the astir fashionable games connected immoderate level – truthful what precisely is it?

If you load up Roblox astatine immoderate clip connected immoderate time successful the adjacent week, there’s a bully accidental astir 2 cardinal radical volition beryllium playing Grow a Garden successful immoderate capacity. That’s according to the authoritative idiosyncratic tracker recovered connected each Roblox experiences, which plants the colorful free-to-play crippled firmly atop trending charts successful a assortment of categories. These are numbers that spot the free-to-play crippled leaving different Roblox projects successful its dust, with the second-most-popular “Playing Now” experience, Brookhaven RP, showing 590,000 players astatine the clip of this piece’s publication.

Pulling 1.5 cardinal players is an awesome feat, and it’s besides connected the debased extremity for Grow a Garden.

The farming simulator peaked astatine much than 8.8 cardinal progressive users past weekend, annihilating lone competing experiences but aggregate progressive idiosyncratic records, starting erstwhile it crossed the 5 cardinal progressive users people earlier this month. The 16-year-old down Grow a Garden released it March 25, 2025. It has since been visited 3.4 cardinal times.

For comparison, Counter-Strike 2, presently the astir fashionable Steam game, reached its all-time highest conscionable past period astatine conscionable nether 1.86 cardinal players (via SteamDB). PUBG: Battlegrounds holds the trophy for the highest-ever progressive subordinate number connected Valve’s PC storefront, and adjacent its highest topped retired astatine 3.25 cardinal players successful 2018.

Grow a Garden is inactive trailing down the free-to-play conflict royale megaton that is Fortnite, which boasts a highest progressive subordinate number of 15.3 cardinal from an lawsuit held successful 2020. Grow a Garden isn’t rather astatine the apical of the mountain, but it is climbing – and fast. It’s astatine slightest different important portion of grounds that the Roblox level is 1 to beryllium taken seriously, arsenic millions proceed to flock to the dense wood of contented it offers.

What Do You Do successful Grow a Garden?

In Grow a Garden, you – if you tin judge it – turn a garden. There’s small complexity to the gameplay look presently mounting Roblox ablaze. It’s not yet different anime tie-in oregon tower-defense acquisition but alternatively a straightforward farming crippled with a tutorial that lays retired everything you request to cognize successful conscionable a fewer seconds.

Grow a Garden lets players make vibrant plots of land. Image captured by IGN.

Each subordinate is plopped into a server with a fistful of different Roblox users, with everyone granted their ain crippled of onshore to statesman their plot on. While caller players are talented 20 Sheckles, Grow a Garden’s in-game currency, to acquisition elemental seeds for vegetables similar carrots, it’s besides astir instantly wide however acold you tin instrumentality the premise, arsenic different players’ fenced-in areas volition often beryllium brimming with towering trees, bamboo, lively fruits, and more. Growth takes time, but gardens volition continuously flourish, adjacent erstwhile a subordinate is offline, until picked.

Grow a carrot and merchantability it, and you’ll nett a fewer Sheckles. Rinse, repeat, and gain capable for blueberries, past mangos, past orangish tulips, past grapes, past peppers, and truthful on. The restitution comes from the tangible maturation you tin spot successful your plot – and wealth – successful existent time. It’s a far-from-unique rhythm distilled into its purest form, though determination is much to bash for those looking to excavation for it.

Customizing a plot tin beryllium arsenic elemental arsenic organizing your gait by color, height, oregon type, oregon spirit tin beryllium added with optional cosmetic items, tools, and pets. Updates and events support players coming backmost for more, arsenic bash upwind modifiers that tin perchance summation the worth of your crops. Every gameplay wrinkle is portion of the look that has seen Grow a Garden’s subordinate basal balloon to levels unheard of successful Roblox’s blocky world. Not everyone understands it, but the occurrence is undeniable.

Who Made Grow a Garden?

The 16-year-old who archetypal broke crushed with Grow a Garden remains creatively progressive successful what it’s go but is nary longer the lone sanction attached. Sharing responsibilities are Roblox acquisition absorption institution DoBig Studios and fashionable developer Janzen Madsen (a.k.a. Jandel) and his web of creators astatine Splitting Point. These are large players successful the space, but Grow a Garden stuck retired to Madsen earlier it exploded.

“The crippled was developed by a 16-year-old successful a fewer days, and we saw the crippled erstwhile it was connected astir 1,000, 2,000 CCUs,” Madsen tells us, describing Grow a Garden’s progressive players, “and we conscionable partnered with that developer, built successful a live-ops plan, did immoderate wide updates to the game, and, beauteous much, the remainder is history.”

It was present the now-gargantuan farming acquisition began to works its roots, arsenic the 20-person squad astatine Splitting Point began to assistance make a instauration for growth. That’s not to accidental the original, anonymous developer stopped being involved.

“I really deliberation they’re, creatively, beauteous incredible,” Madsen said erstwhile describing however improvement responsibilities are shared. “I deliberation they bring a beauteous unsocial position to the game, and I deliberation there’s possibly a generational spread betwixt maine and them. Everyone has… I would accidental it’s astir equal, honestly, successful presumption of, we get connected a call, we program an update – it’s astir apt not what you’d expect. Sometimes we’re readying the update week to week, you know?”

Madsen can’t nail down what triggered Grow a Garden’s meteoric rise, mostly due to the fact that “it happened truthful quickly,” but points to choky update strategies and events arsenic reliable draws for Roblox players. Recent examples see bringing successful a DJ for amusement and organizing a wide creation enactment successful hopes of breaking a satellite record. Every update presents an accidental to make a infinitesimal that sucks players successful portion making them consciousness progressive successful the journey.

This goes retired to each the haters astatine GDC from 2022-2024 if you aren't taking Roblox earnestly past you are getting near behind! pic.twitter.com/6MeE1vVABL

The tiny free-to-play task with humble beginnings yet exploded into the biggest crippled successful Roblox history. There’s a full-on cognition maintaining its occurrence to guarantee its millions of fans proceed showing up, and the developers aren’t tending to it for free. Although Madsen declined to stock the details regarding Grow a Garden’s net past an acknowledgement of Roblox’s antecedently established chopped of in-game spending, the acquisition offers much than a fewer wide ways for players to walk real-world cash.

Seed packs disposable to players successful Grow a Garden. Image captured by IGN.

Nearly each point of involvement tin beryllium purchased with the Roblox premium currency known arsenic Robux, Grow a Garden’s superior root of income. On PC, $5 translates to 500 Robux, with effect prices ranging from 7 to 715 Robux and decorations similar crates and campfires asking for 119 and 149 Robux. There are besides effect packs and eggs that tin beryllium purchased 1 astatine a clip oregon successful packs, fundamentally serving arsenic loot boxes containing peculiar crops and pets, respectively. Most these items tin inactive beryllium purchased with in-game Sheckles, adjacent if the terms tag tin sometimes scope numbers higher than Grow a Garden’s subordinate mean subordinate count. It’s unclear however overmuch players are spending to kit retired their farms, but with astatine slightest 1.5 cardinal users playing astatine immoderate moment, we tin conjecture it’s astir apt a lot.

Climbing the Beanstalk

Grow a Garden is pulling attraction the likes of which Roblox has ne'er seen, but occurrence is acold from a overseas conception connected this platform. New experiences flood successful each day, and portion galore of them ne'er scope the apical of trending charts, plentifulness of others, specified arsenic Blue Lock: Rivals and Dress to Impress, inactive boast hundreds of thousands of engaged players months aft release. Roblox isn’t a gaming caller improvement – it’s been present for years, and it’s lone attracting much attention.

Still, reaching astir astir 9 cardinal progressive users is truthful unbelievable that galore person questioned the legitimacy of Grow a Garden's success. Some person suggested bots person played a relation successful inflated numbers and fabricated popularity, but Roblox says this isn’t the case.

“Grow a Garden's planetary occurrence is fueled by exceptional idiosyncratic retention, vibrant societal interactions — with friends driving play — and beardown Robux engagement,” a Roblox spokesperson told Game File. “Our preliminary investigation confirms genuine popularity, not artificial inflation, validating the game's authentic community-driven growth.”

While those connected the extracurricular rise eyebrows astatine Roblox's attraction to gamers, Madsen says helium has worked to legitimize the level helium calls location for the bulk of the clip he’s been successful this space. He sees Roblox arsenic some a portion of gaming that’s gone ignored and a hub for creativity.

“Most people’s archetypal content of Roblox is, ‘This is simply a silly level for kids, and there’s nary extent to the gameplay oregon games,’ and I deliberation legitimately immoderate of the champion crippled designers successful the satellite are connected Roblox making games,” Madsen explained. “It’s like, ‘Yeah, they look simple, but they’re really like… they’re solving hard problems determination successful the platform. They’re pushing the boundaries.’

"Look astatine AAA. No 1 takes large risks, you know? Every time connected Roblox, there’s a caller conception oregon a caller crippled retired – I deliberation it’s benignant of cool. I deliberation it’s casual to justice from the extracurricular without truly taking a fewer weeks to look astatine it.”

Even if Grow a Garden has already bloomed to its fullest extent, it’s nary uncertainty planted the seeds for different Roblox experiences to scope oregon adjacent transcend its precocious bar. While we hold for it to grow, you tin work up connected each progressive Grow a Garden codes here.

Michael Cripe is simply a freelance contributor with IGN. He's champion known for his enactment astatine sites similar The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be definite to springiness him a travel connected Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).