Roblox has partnered with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) to swap out its current maturity rating system for the games on its platform, or what Roblox calls 'experiences,' with age ratings commonly used on individually sold games, like ESRB, PEGI, GRAC, and USK ratings. The company will also require players to verify their age to use in-game chat by the end of 2025.
Players in North America will see ESRB ratings, while players in Europe and the United Kingdom will see PEGI, USK in Germany, and GRAC in the Republic of Korea.
It's another layer to Roblox finally trying to do more to address the issues of adult predators using the platform to target children, an issue that's been reported on multiple times over the years. Last month, Louisiana's attorney general, Liz Murril, filed a lawsuit against Roblox for failing to implement proper safety protocols to protect children from those who've been able to abuse the platform and its lax security for years. Roblox responded to the lawsuit, calling the claims "erroneous."
"With so many families engaging with Roblox, it is hugely beneficial to provide parents with trusted and familiar ratings no matter where they live," said Patricia Vance, ESRB president and IARC chairperson, per a report from GamesIndustry.Biz. "The globally streamlined process will provide Roblox creators with an efficient and proven process for obtaining age and content ratings, while informing parents of what their kids may experience before they play."
Regarding the age verification, Roblox will use a combination of ID age verification, parental consent, and facial age estimation technology to get a more accurate read on a users age, instead of what it's been doing so far, "simply relying on what someone types in when they create an account," writes chief safety officer, Matt Kaufman.
Kaufman also writes that Roblox has issued "over 100 safety initiatives" since the start of this year, and that these new implementations are building on an already "strong foundation" of protocols Roblox already had in place.
Last year, Bloomberg reported that Roblox had over 13,000 incidents of child exploitation on the platform in 2023, and that employees who had worked with Kaufman claimed Roblox was "on its back foot" in its struggle to clear the platform of predators.
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