Alex Balfanz
Born (1999-05-05) May 5, 1999 (age 24)
Orlando, Florida
NationalityAmerican
Other namesbadcc, badccvoid
OccupationVideo game developer
Years active2008-present
Known forProgrammer and co-creator of the Roblox game Jailbreak

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.

Early life

Born 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

In 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

Balfanz attends Duke University, where he is able to 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 100,000 subscribers and seven million views. The content uploaded includes Roblox building and scripting content, custom musical pieces, and showcases of new Jailbreak content.[6]

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b Fang, Shannon (December 10, 2018). "How the Jailbreak computer game made sophomore Alex Balfanz millions". Duke Chronicle. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Power, Ed (August 19, 2020). "Roblox: The booming video game that's now bigger than Minecraft". The Irish Times. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  5. ^ Lufkin, Bryan (March 24, 2018). "How video games turn teenagers into millionaires". BBC. Retrieved September 3, 2020.
  6. ^ Balfanz, Alex (November 14, 2011). "Alex Balfanz". YouTube. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
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