Roblox expands restricted child accounts across markets

Roblox said Tuesday it has expanded its new age-based account system across markets, after testing the controls in select countries since April. The change creates two account types for younger users: Roblox Kids for ages 5-8 and Roblox Select for ages 9-15.

The company positions the rollout as a safety upgrade for a platform that blends games, chat, user-generated worlds, avatar items, and paid virtual currency. Parents can use the controls through a linked account, while Roblox changes the account experience based on age.

Roblox turns chat off for Kids Accounts at setup. Parents can turn it on. Those accounts limit children to experiences with lower content ratings and give parents a clearer account category for younger players. Select Accounts give older children broader access, with more controls around communication and content.

The company announced the global launch through the Roblox Newsroom. The Verge reported the rollout Tuesday, and Roblox’s broader safety documentation lives in its Help Center and Safety and Civility pages.

Claim

Roblox says age-based accounts let it match content access, communication settings, and parental tools to a child’s age. The company wants parents to see fewer scattered settings and more account-level defaults.

The product claim has merit. Age bands give Roblox a clearer way to apply rules at scale. A 6-year-old and a 14-year-old use the same platform, but parents expect different chat, discovery, spending, and content limits for each child. Roblox now encodes that distinction into the account system instead of relying on parents to tune several separate controls.

The approach also fits Roblox’s recent move toward age assurance. The company has tied chat access to age checks, including facial age estimation, ID verification, and parent-managed settings. The Verge reported Monday that Roblox executives said a checkbox age gate no longer gives the company enough confidence for chat access.

New parts

Kids Accounts matter because Roblox applies the strictest defaults to the youngest users. Roblox turns off chat, narrows content access, and gives parents the option to enable communication through a linked account. That matters in a service where social features sit beside games.

Select Accounts cover the 9-15 range, a wide group that includes elementary school children and high school students. Roblox gives those accounts more access than Kids Accounts, but the company still places them below standard accounts. Users move into standard accounts at 16, though some restrictions can still apply based on age and parental settings.

The practical change for parents sits in control centralization. A parent who links an account can manage communication, content, screen time, and spending settings from one place. That setup reduces the chance that a child keeps broad access because a parent missed a buried toggle.

The practical change for developers sits in content gating. Roblox’s experience ratings and age categories now matter more because they determine which younger users can enter a game. Creators who build for children need to account for rating limits, chat features, monetization choices, and moderation requirements before they publish.

Limits

Roblox still depends on age classification, content ratings, and moderation quality. A child who enters the wrong age can land in the wrong account category unless Roblox or a parent corrects it. Facial age estimation can help, but Roblox has not published a broad third-party benchmark for its system in this rollout.

The Verge reported that Roblox says its facial age estimates can land within about 1.4 years of a child’s exact age. That figure gives a useful performance claim, but parents and regulators need more than an average. Error rates near age boundaries matter because an 8-year-old, a 9-year-old, and a 15-year-old can fall into different rules.

Roblox also needs strong experience ratings. If creators misclassify content or users steer children toward off-platform chat, account restrictions lose force. The company can reduce risk with defaults, enforcement, and parent tools, but it cannot turn a social gaming platform into a closed children’s app.

The rollout still marks a concrete change. Roblox has moved from broad child-safety settings toward age-specific account classes. Parents now get stronger defaults for younger children, and creators face clearer incentives to design experiences that match Roblox’s age bands.