Roblox shares rose 5% on Monday after the company unveiled a pair of new age-specific account options that expand parental controls and refine content access across its platform.
The gaming and social platform said it will introduce Roblox Kids for users aged 5 to 8 and Roblox Select for users aged 9 to 15, with both account types scheduled to roll out in early June. The new accounts are designed to match content permissions, communication settings and parental controls to the age of the player.
Under the planned structure, Roblox Kids accounts will be limited to games that carry either a Minimal or Mild content maturity label and that successfully pass a three-step selection process established by the company. Communication features for Roblox Kids will be disabled by default.
Roblox Select accounts, for those aged 9 to 15, will restrict access to titles with content maturity labels up to and including Moderate. For this middle age bracket, default communication settings will remain unchanged from the current defaults for users aged 9 to 15.
The company said that since it required facial age verification to access chat earlier this year, more than 50% of global daily active users and 65% of U.S. daily active users have completed age checks. Roblox described an automatic progression mechanism that will migrate players between account types as they reach the relevant ages: users will move from Roblox Kids to Roblox Select at age 9, and transition from Roblox Select to standard Roblox accounts at age 16.
Accounts belonging to users who have not completed age verification will be confined to games rated Minimal or Mild and will have no communication available, the company said.
Roblox will place additional evaluation requirements on content available to users under 16. Those measures include developer verification mandates and real-time monitoring of how users aged 16 and older interact with new games. The company also plans to switch to the International Age Rating Coalition framework later this year, which will enable region-specific ratings such as ESRB in the U.S. and PEGI in Europe and the U.K.
Key takeaways
- Two new account tiers - Roblox Kids (5-8) and Roblox Select (9-15) - will launch in early June with age-aligned content and parental controls.
- More than half of global daily active users and 65% of U.S. daily active users have completed age checks since facial age verification was required earlier this year.
- Additional protective measures will apply for users under 16, and the platform will adopt the International Age Rating Coalition framework later this year.
Context and mechanics
The new accounts will control access by content maturity labels: Roblox Kids will be limited to Minimal and Mild titles (subject to a three-step selection process), while Roblox Select will permit titles up to Moderate. Communication defaults differ by tier - disabled by default for the youngest users and unchanged for the 9-15 group - and unverified users face the strictest limits.
Risks and uncertainties
- Users who have not completed age verification will face restrictions that limit game access and communication - a factor that could affect engagement metrics for that segment.
- Implementation of developer verification and real-time monitoring for under-16 audiences introduces operational and compliance demands for the platform and its developer community.
- The pending transition to the International Age Rating Coalition framework requires alignment to region-specific rating systems, which may affect content availability by market.
The announcement and the detailed account controls were the proximate drivers cited for the share price move on Monday. The company framed the changes as an age-aligned approach to content access, communication defaults and safety measures while committing to additional evaluation steps for younger users and a regional ratings framework later in the year.