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Time of India

Here's why Roblox's Garden Game just went mega viral and became bigger than counter-strike

What do carrots, a 16-year-old coder, and a casual game have in common? Apparently, a ticket to Roblox superstardom. Grow a Garden, the unexpectedly addictive farming simulator, is now dominating Roblox's charts, and not just by a little. It is outgrowing some of the biggest games on the planet. A simple idea that blew up If you log into Roblox today, chances are more than 2 million players are already watering their pixelated blueberries. Last weekend alone, Grow a Garden hit an eye-watering 8.8 million concurrent players, leaving even the likes of Counter-Strike 2 (1.86M) and PUBG (3.25M at its peak) looking like modest backyard operations. All this started when a 16-year-old developer released Grow a Garden on March 25, 2025. The game has since racked up over 3.4 billion visits. What is wild is that it is not even a flashy battle royale or anime crossover. It is just farming. And yet… it works. Gameplay: Just dirt, seeds, and a dream In Grow a Garden, each player gets a humble patch of land and 20 Sheckles (yes, that is the currency) to buy seeds, think carrots and basic crops. But as gardens blossom, so does the gameplay. Sell produce, earn more Sheckles, unlock cooler crops like mangoes, grapes, and even orange tulips. Your garden grows even when you are offline, so the progress is tangible, and endlessly satisfying. It is farming, but make it aesthetic, social, and subtly strategic. And unlike most Roblox hits, it is not trying to be an anime fighter or combat sim, it is softcore wholesome, and Gen Alpha is clearly obsessed. Behind the scenes: From teen project to Roblox royalty While the game's original creator is still involved, the meteoric rise caught the attention of DoBig Studios and Jandel's Splitting Point, major players in the Roblox scene. Janzen Madsen of Splitting Point said they noticed the game when it had just 2,000 concurrent users, and helped scale it with a proper live-ops strategy and regular updates. The rest, as they say, is garden-fuelled history. As it climbs closer to Fortnite-level numbers (15.3M peak), Grow a Garden is proof that Roblox is not just a platform, it is a global gaming force.