[Update] April 172026
Hi Creators,
Every daymillions of users come to Roblox to play incredible games that all of you have built. Keeping the trust of userstheir parentsand the policy makers who represent them is incredibly importantand helps make sure Roblox can continue to be accessed around the world.
We know that the vast majority of you are dedicated to building high quality content that meets our Community Standards. Every daywe process billions of asset uploads submitted by millions of creators. While our existing moderation systems catch the vast majority of violationsno system is perfect and even a single infraction can cost us the trust of our communitywhich in turn can hurt well intentioned creators.
Today we are announcing new publishing requirements and an evaluation process to help make sure games are suitable for our youngest userswhich will go into effect on May 19th. Publishing games that are available to players with either Roblox Kids (users under 9) or Roblox Select (users 9 to 15) accounts that we announced in our Newsroom will require additional verification steps than publishing games that are available to users over 16.*
While we know this is a lot of change and introduces requirements that creators didn’t have to meet beforeit’ll allow us to set a new standard for the safety of games on Roblox and enable us to take stronger action on bad actors. They’ll also help us stay ahead of changing regulatory requirementsso your games can continue to be played by the millions of players that are on Roblox today.
We want to answer the questions you have about these changes; we’ll be hosting an AMA on DevForum on April 16 at 12:30 pm to 2:30 pm PDT. We’ll share more about why we’re making these changes and take your questions live.
* Exact ages of Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts may vary by region based on local requirements
New Publishing Requirements
You can check the status of your eligibility in your account settings to learn what actions you need to take.
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Publish for personal use - Anyone on Roblox can continue to publish games for personal use.
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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
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Publish to all ages - To publish a game that reaches users of all ages (including users with Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts) you must meet the above requirements and:
a. Be ID verified
b. Have 2-factor authentication setup
c. Have an active Roblox Plus or Roblox Premium subscription
- Those with any active Premium subscription (including Lifetime Premium)will not be converted to a Roblox Plus subscriptionBUT will meet the Plus requirement to have their games available to users of all ages.
d. Your game must complete a new evaluation process (details below)
The eligibility of the game owner will be checked anytime a game is published. For groupsthe group owner will need to meet the requirements for games published on behalf of the group.
Why we chose these eligibility requirements
We chose these requirements because most creators already meet many of the criteriaand they’ll make it more difficult for bad actors to bypass our moderation systems. Requirements like Facial Age Estimation and ID Verification help provide more certainty that games are being published by real people2-factor authentication helps protect against account takeoversand Plus creates a financial cost for bad actors attempting to create a large number of accounts.
We saw a significant reduction in spammy/violating games from the requirements that we launched late last yearand we believe updating these requirements as described above will further reduce the number of violating games that make it through.
Free Roblox Plus for Existing Creators
We understand that adding Roblox Plus as a publishing requirement for reaching younger audiences is a significant change for creators. To make this transition easierwe are covering the cost of Roblox Plus for about one hundred thousand of our existing creators for the next 6 months. To be eligibleat least one game you own must have 100 hours of total playtime over the last 30 days (as of today4/13) and you must not have any major violations of our Community Standards. For group owned games that meet the criteriathe 6 months is granted to the group owner.
Eligible creators will get the full benefits associated with Pluswhich you can read more on in our announcement last week. You can check if you’re eligible for the 6 months on the new publishing eligibility pageand the 6 months will start on May 19th when these requirements go live. New Plus subscriptions will also be available on April 30th.
New Evaluation Process of Games for Young Users
To ensure games are ready for young usersgames published by creators who meet the ‘all ages’ requirements will go through an evaluation process. Games will first be trialed with age-checked users above the age of 16. During this processwe analyze signals like account ageplay historyand platform spend to verify that engagement is genuine and isn’t derived from fake accounts or bots.
The gameplay and any reports provided by this older audience will be reviewed by the new real-time moderation system that we rolled out last monthin addition to our other safety checks that we run for every game today. These changes will provide more certainty that a game is age appropriate for younger users.
You will be able to monitor the progress of this evaluation process directly in the Creator Hub so you can keep track of your status. Once the evaluation process is successfully completedyour game will be available to users under 16subject to individual user maturity settings and the specific content maturity ratings of your game.
Introducing the IARC Framework
As announced last yearRoblox will soon transition to the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) frameworkthe globally recognized standard method for assigning content ratings for digital games and apps. These clearregion-specific ratingssuch as ESRB in the U.S. and PEGI in much of Europe and the U.K.reflect local cultural norms and will help families identify age-appropriate content while further reinforcing our alignment with global safety standards and local regulations. We will share more details on this soon.
FAQs
Will this make it harder for new games to grow an audience on Roblox?
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These changes can lengthen the time it takes for new games without an existing audience to grow their playerbase and reach users of all ages. We’re committed to improving discovery for new games on Robloxespecially for new games that haven’t yet completed the new evaluation processand we’ll continue to make improvements here.
An important reality here is that the potential impact of not introducing these requirements is much greater in the long term. Without these changesthe potential risk is that Roblox may not be accessible to some or all users in certain regionsreducing the total overall number of users and impacting the growth of all games on Roblox.
Is this going to make it difficult for games made for a young audience to grow?
- Most engaging games on Roblox already naturally attract audiences of both older and younger usersand will receive enough engagement to complete the evaluation process. There may be some games meant purely for younger users that may take longer to complete the evaluation process.
How long does the evaluation process take? What can I do to complete the process faster?
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Times vary depending on how quickly your game receives engagement from older users. The best thing you can do to expedite this process is to regularly update your gameaddress user feedbackand promote your game to users over 16.
We’re committed to increasing the visibility of new games on Robloxso they’re able to complete this process faster. We’ll share more here as soon as we can.
Can users under 16 play my game if it hasn’t passed the evaluation process?
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Generallyno. Your game must pass the evaluation process and you must meet the eligibility requirements for your game to be available to users under 16.
With that saidparents with linked accounts will be able to allow their kids to play any game that doesn’t have an 18+ content maturity rating.
What happened to the “Robux Spend” requirement that was announced last year? Why is Roblox Premium not an option?
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We’re removing the “Robux Spent” requirement that we announced late last year. While in the short term it reduced the number of violating gameswe saw indicators of bad actors attempting to circumvent this requirement.
We’re not offering Roblox Premium as an optionas it’ll soon no longer be available.
An active Plus subscription is a stronger indicator of long-term investmentwhich is why we’ll be using this in addition to the other new requirements instead.
What if I’m not old enough to have a state-issued ID?
- We will enable verified parents with linked accounts to grant eligibility to their child before these requirements go live. We’ll share more here soon.
How does the Plus requirement apply to group-owned games?
- For group-owned experiencesonly the group owner is required to have an active Plus membership to share an experience with users under the age of 16. Authorized group members do not need their own subscription to contributethough they must have 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) enabled to publish. As a reminderthe six-month Plus membership grant will be awarded to the owner of any group with an experience that generated 100 hours or more of engagement in the last 30 days.
