Alex Balfanz, (born May 5, 1999) known online as badcc, is an American video game developer who is the programmer and co-creator of the Roblox game Jailbreak.
Alex Balfanz | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 5, 1999 |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | badcc, badccvoid |
| Occupation | Video game developer |
| Years active | 2008-present |
| Known for | Programmer and co-creator of the Roblox game Jailbreak |
Early life
editBorn in 1999, Balfanz began to code games using Roblox Studio at the age of 9.[1] Balfanz's father worked as a programmer, which Balfanz cites as one of the main reasons for his early interest in coding.[2] He attended high school at the Trinity Preparatory School.[3] Prior to releasing Jailbreak, Balfanz had made several other games on Roblox, which he stated had made him "maybe a couple thousand" dollars.[3]
Career
editIn January 2016, Balfanz and his business partner, who goes by "asimo3089", created the game Volt, an open-world game in which players complete minigames.[3]
In January 2017, Balfanz, along with asimo3089, uploaded Jailbreak, a cops-and-robbers game, to Roblox. On its first day of release, it reached 70,000 concurrent players, a number which Balfanz later said had shocked him.[1] It quickly became one of the most popular games on the platform, and made Balfanz a millionaire.[4][3]
Personal life
editBalfanz attended Duke University, where he can pay off his college debt using funds from his games.[2][5] Balfanz has also been a YouTuber since 2011, maintaining a channel with over 90,000 subscribers (and allegedly over 100,000 at one point) and seven million views. The content uploaded includes Roblox building and scripting content, custom musical pieces, and showcases of new Jailbreak content.[6]
References
edit- ^ a b Browning, Kellen (August 16, 2020). "You May Not Know This Pandemic Winner, but Your Tween Probably Does". The New York Times. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
- ^ a b Fang, Shannon (December 10, 2018). "How the Jailbreak computer game made sophomore Alex Balfanz millions". Duke Chronicle. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
- ^ a b c d Huddleston Jr., Tom (September 23, 2019). "This 20-year-old is paying for college (and more) off an amateur video game he made in high school". CNBC. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
- ^ Power, Ed (August 19, 2020). "Roblox: The booming video game that's now bigger than Minecraft". The Irish Times. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
- ^ Lufkin, Bryan (March 24, 2018). "How video games turn teenagers into millionaires". BBC. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
- ^ Balfanz, Alex (November 14, 2011). "Alex Balfanz". YouTube. Retrieved August 1, 2022.