[1] https://storage02.forbrukerradet.no/media/2026/02/breaking-f...
This is move to moderated censored platform under regulatory "protect the children" pressurre and hysteria.
This is not affecting publishing games for 16+ audience.
Capitalism: Shareholders need to be satisfied every year.
This is basically only requirement to make games available for players under 16 so its certnly done under regulatory pressure because no way on earth they can moderate every game from unpaid users.
Now they need a paid subscription with an id check to become a 'trusted friend'.
To publish globally for <16 users, the id check and subscription requirements then apply.
Publish to 16+ and Trusted Friends - To publish a game that reaches Trusted Friends and users over 16 you must:
a. Complete an age check b. Have an account in good standing c. Have an account on Roblox that’s been on the platform for at least 2 days
The paid subscription is for publishing to <16 users globally.
> For friends, they need to do an age estimation only.
Thats not true. It says to share with trusted friends and 16+ they need an account in good standing (paid) and an age check, which constitues sending a face scan or id.
I literally pasted the rule directly from their site, Im surprised you dont understand it.
I'm dev games on Roblox. Trust me, you're the one confused here.
Accounts without age verification can only play all-ages games, chat is fully disabled, and they cannot publish any content onto the platform.
These requirements make sense. They're additional verification steps in place for people trying to publish games for very young users.
They only make sense if you think it's OK for kids to send face scans to scary faceless corporations. And even if you do that, you can't share your game with friends unless they also take a face scan! (cause that's what "Trusted Friend" means - it doesn't mean trusted by you, it means trusted by them)
Here's my suggestion for an amendement:
"Roblox devs will need plus membership to publish to young users"
Yes it makes sense when you apply it to adults, but Roblox was made for kids to share and play with other kids. When you look at it from that angle it makes no sense.
The step is a significant one, and Roblox has taken one other measure recently, restricting chat a lot for minors (https://x.com/Roblox_RTC/status/2043723470899437623) . I think this is a move to satisfy people concerned with child safety, not a cash grab. I think RB hq probably know they're making tradeoffs of keeping parents happy, while devs will be annoyed/fewer. But everyone can still make games and play them with trusted friends. Likely damages the network effect (Roblox's multiplayer aspect being one of its best parts), but oh well.
I for one will not let my child submit a face scan to Roblox in order to become a 'trusted friend', and so now they wont be able to play the games made by their friends.
age check via face scan or id for both parties is required, along with ~in-person pre-existing connections or parental permission.
As a side note, if someone is working on something similar, then now is the time to start talking about it! ;)
I dont know Lua and never touched it, Claude was able to vibe code in pieces a whole 3D Roblox experience, all while I was working in domains I did understand in another terminal window
Taking the Apple approach makes sense as too many ideas guys are flooding the platform with vending machine slop
Vibe coders are far more likely to be willing to pay to submit their games, because just like their $200/mo AI subscription, they see it as a necessary expense on their path to get rich quick. People who just want to make things for fun as a hobby are less likely to pay.
>no matter if you are 14 or 88
Some interesting ages you pulled out there...
Upvoting gangs upvote the PR comment that downplays the article (the "actually, let me examine is why this is fine in very polished language" type comment)
So it's not like there a total imbalance of purely misleading headlines with no response to them
16+ audiences have no requirement.
It is also that your game goes away when you stop paying. Which means, pay forever or you cant show it off anymore.
[1]:https://www.statista.com/statistics/1190869/roblox-games-use...
I think requirement 3 can make sense if we start painting everybody as potential criminal.
but requirement 2 never make sense to me. -- why need age check to publish to adult user?
Good thing he was already messing around with Godot as well cause this kills Roblox for him.
I agree this is dumb but this isn't a Roblox thing so much as "what the fuck are we collectively doing with privacy?" thing.
There is ZERO chance I’m doing ID verification or paying a subscription. The entire reason we liked this platform was there was barely any friction.
I will be checking out S&box by the creator of Garry’s mod as an alternative: https://sbox.game/
> Publish for personal use - Anyone on Roblox can continue to publish games for personal use.
I know it is not great... but .. is that sufficient for your kid?
Luanti + Mineclonia is absolutely excellent open source software.
I get a great sense of peace knowing that my incentives, are aligned with the people who made it.
Imustaskforhelp•3h ago
Having a subscription kills Roblox and its ecosystem.
For context, Roblox has 170 million peak concurrent players, All of Steam had 85 (I got this data from someone at hackernews's comment)
This might be the end of Roblox. I hope more roblox's alternative spring up preferably open-source. There is luanti which is a minecraft alternative but I suppose a lot of games can have overlap to luanti and it runs on lua too.
mastermage•2h ago