• by Colin Kirkland , April 13, 2026

Despite widespread criticism of its age-verification technology, Roblox has announced new tiered account types for kids and teens under 16 years of age, introducing a unified framework for age checks, account-level defaults, in-game content ratings, and expanded parental controls.

Starting in June, the social-gaming platform will launch “Roblox Kids” accounts for users between five and eight years old, and “Roblox Select” for users nine to 15 years old. According to the company’s announcement, these account tiers aim to “more closely align content access, communication settings, and parents controls with a user's age.”

To determine a player's age and account tier, Roblox will use the same age-verification system it began testing in September 2025, which will automatically match players with a catalog of games that align with the tier's content restrictions.

Notably, after its global rollout in January, Roblox's age-verification system was widely criticized by players, developers and child safety experts for disrupting the in-app chat feature while failing to properly protect children from predators.

However, in response to reports about users tricking the system and bypassing age checks with modified screenshots, as well as misidentifications by way of Roblox's AI-powered tech, the company's Chief Safety Officer Matt Kaufman said at the time that Roblox would focus on improving the verification system.

With over 150 million daily active users, Kaufman stated that “it's a process that will take time.”

“Roblox may periodically recheck users’ age if fraud is suspected or take appropriate action if there we see signs of potential age misrepresentation,” reads a statement issued by the gaming giant in January.

Per the company’s announcement, half of its user base is now age-checked via ID verification or face scans. Users who have not completed the age check process will be automatically placed in the Kids tier, with limited game access and the inability to use the chat feature.

“For content made available to users under 16, we will apply an additional continuous process that dynamically selects games,” the company’s announcement explains. The process will include verification of who developed the game, as well as extended content evaluation, and ratings checks.

Later this year, Roblox will also transition to the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) framework to label its games within a globally recognized ratings standard.

For a developer’s game to be accessible to Kids and Select accounts, the developer must now have an active Roblox Plus subscription, which costs $4.99 a month.

The gaming company's announcement comes a month after the launch of itsautomated rephrasing feature designed to better safeguard the chat feature from profanity.

As “the largest dedicated gaming platform for users aged 13 and under” in the world – according to its latest shareholder letter – Roblox still faces mounting lawsuits linked to child safety issues.

More than 130 individual lawsuits have joined the multidistrict group litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, representing the cases of children who have been allegedly groomed by predators on Roblox, lured from their homes and assaulted.

Roblox-related cases in the U.S. have already resulted in the arrest of dozens of people on charges of abducting or sexually assaulting children they met on the virtual gaming platform.