Inside BIG Games: How Pet Simulator Became a $100M Roblox Empire

From Sword RPGs to Pet-Collecting Megahit

Preston Parks joined Roblox on September 2, 2011, under the username BuildIntoGames. His earliest creations were humble RPG sword games — Darkness of Time RPG, Silver Sword RPG 3 — the kind of projects that fill every young developer's portfolio before they find their groove. Today, his studio BIG Games commands over 25 million group members and has generated an estimated $100 million or more in lifetime revenue.

The path from hobbyist to mogul wound through a string of genre experiments. Preston ran a small group called Spark Studios before rebranding to BIG Games around 2015. Early releases like Giant Survival, My Restaurant, and BIG Paintball showed a developer testing different formulas. None broke through. Then came August 4, 2018, when the original Pet Simulator launched from a brainstorming session between Preston and collaborator Coylist. The concept was deceptively simple: hatch pets from eggs, collect coins, unlock areas, repeat. It hit 50,000 concurrent players on launch day and went on to surpass 1.1 billion visits, winning Mobile Game of the Year at the 6th Annual Bloxy Awards.

Building the Franchise, One Sequel at a Time

Pet Simulator 2 arrived in December 2019 and proved the franchise's only real stumble — updates ceased by January 2020, and players largely consider it the weakest entry. But the misstep made what came next all the more striking.

Pet Simulator X launched in July 2021 and became a genuine phenomenon. It accumulated upward of 8 billion total visits, consistently ranked among the top games on Roblox for over two years, and won the Most Concurrent Users award at the 2023 Roblox Innovation Awards — presented, memorably, by Post Malone. At its peak, PSX was estimated to generate between 4.2 million and 17 million Robux per day, with one lifetime revenue estimate reaching approximately $109 million for that single title.

Pet Simulator 99 followed on December 1, 2023, peaking at over 400,000 concurrent players near launch. It currently maintains roughly 44,767 active players with 2.36 billion visits and counting. A Pet Box migration system let longtime fans transfer pets from PSX, smoothing the generational transition. The franchise has since expanded with spinoffs: Pets GO launched in October 2024 as a standalone RNG game born from a popular PS99 event, and Steal a Pet introduced PvP mechanics in June 2025, crossing 31 million visits. BIG Games became the first Roblox group to have three games each exceed 1 billion visits.

The Monetization Playbook

BIG Games' revenue engine is multi-layered and relentless. The core strategy revolves around game passes that accelerate the fundamental gameplay action: hatching eggs. Passes like Triple Eggs and Octuple Eggs multiply output dramatically, while the free experience is tuned to feel glacial by comparison. Exclusive 400-Robux eggs offer pets that rival or exceed what unpaying players can earn through days of effort. Players describe the free tier as "almost impossible" for competitive play.

Layered on top are limited-edition drops modeled after real-world product launches. Time-limited exclusive pets and events weaponize urgency and fear of missing out. PSX reportedly generated over $10 million from timed exclusive pet bundles alone, with estimated annual revenue exceeding $20 million across the franchise.

The studio also bridges physical and digital commerce through a master toy partnership with PhatMojo. Collectible figures, plush toys, and playsets — each bundled with DLC codes for exclusive in-game content — are sold at Walmart, Target, Amazon, and Smyths Toys in the UK. Every physical purchase funnels players back into the game; every in-game tease drives interest in merchandise. Licensing agent Think Influence now handles the full BIG Games portfolio, managing apparel collaborations, sponsorship activations, and branded integrations that signal ambitions well beyond Roblox.

Weekly Updates and the Science of Retention

What separates BIG Games from the legion of simulator clones it inspired is execution discipline. Pet Simulator 99 receives weekly updates every Saturday at 5 PM GMT — a metronome-like cadence that gives players a reliable reason to return. Recent additions have included the Interstellar Zone with 50 new rare pets, seasonal worlds for Halloween and Autumn, a Summer Block Party, and a St. Patrick's event in March 2026 featuring lucky bosses that drop unique HUGE pets.

The core loop — hatch, collect, fuse, upgrade — was not invented by BIG Games, but they refined it into something approaching behavioral science. Massive number scaling reaching quintillions feeds the psychological satisfaction of constant progression. Ultra-rare pet tiers like HUGE, TITANIC, and GARGANTUAN function as status symbols, creating a secondary trading economy and social hierarchy that keeps players invested far beyond the base gameplay. When an RNG event within PS99 proved popular, the studio spun it into a standalone game within months. That willingness to rapidly prototype and ship mirrors strategies used by the most successful mobile studios.

Controversies and Backlash

Success at this scale has not come without friction. The pay-to-win criticism is persistent: free players report being unable to compete on leaderboards despite daily grinding, and a Change.org petition titled "Remove Pet Simulator X Off Roblox — Protect Our Children" cited predatory monetization targeting minors.

In October 2021, BIG Games announced NFT pets with in-game benefits. The community response was overwhelmingly negative. All twelve NFTs sold for a total of $153,686.72, emitting an estimated 576 kg of CO2 — and the backlash was severe enough that the experiment was never repeated.

The most damaging episode came in September 2023, when Preston launched a "DMCA cleanse," sending takedown notices to games using blocky pet designs similar to Pet Simulator's. Developer FilteredScript publicly stated they were "falsely DMCA'ed by BIG Games LLC," causing "tens of thousands of dollars of lost income" and forcing replacement of nearly 300 pet designs. The hashtag #BoycottBigGames trended on social media. Critics called it hypocritical, arguing BIG Games' own designs resembled generic Minecraft-style creatures. Preston defended the actions, saying they "don't take down fan games unless they are made to profit off our IP."

A Template for the Platform

Despite operating as a relatively lean outfit — registered as Preston Parks LLC in Texas with known team members including JamienChee, Aspernator, ForeverDev, and Spectaqual — BIG Games has fundamentally shaped how Roblox simulators are built and monetized. The studio runs a formal content creator partnership program with over 100 creators who receive in-game perks and early access, functioning as a perpetual marketing engine across YouTube and TikTok.

Pet Simulator's influence is visible in the sheer volume of imitators copying the hatch-collect-fuse loop and blocky pet aesthetic. More significantly, BIG Games established the monetization template that much of the Roblox simulator genre now follows: tiered game passes for progression speed, FOMO-driven limited events, weekly content drops, and creator networks. Whether that template represents innovation or exploitation depends on perspective — but with Pet Simulator 99 still receiving weekly updates in March 2026, merchandise lines expanding through major retailers, and new spinoffs shipping regularly, the studio that started with boss battle RPGs shows no signs of releasing its grip on the Roblox economy.