As countries step up regulations to protect children on online platforms, Roblox—the go-to game for ..

As countries strengthen child-protection measures Sales growth continues to slow Adult interest has risen recently Roblox plans to expand engagement with users aged 18 and over

As countries step up regulations to protect children on online platforms, Roblox—the go-to game for elementary schoolers—is making a push to attract adult users in their 20s and 30s. The platform has grown largely among younger users, but is now seeking to expand its user base to adults amid mounting regulatory pressure.

Roblox’s shift began as it responded to child-protection regulations. As investigations and lawsuits over child safety mounted in various countries, Roblox introduced age verification worldwide in January this year. Users take a picture of their face with a mobile phone or PC camera, and artificial intelligence (AI) estimates their age and automatically assigns them to an age group. Users aged 13 and older can also verify their age with an ID, such as a resident registration card or passport. Even users who have completed age verification can chat only with people in a similar age group, while those who have not completed the process cannot use the chat function at all.

The introduction of age verification soon began to weigh on Roblox’s results. Restrictions on chat for users who had not completed verification curtailed communication between users, while the influx of new users and sales growth also slowed. When Roblox announced its first-quarter results in late April, it lowered its full-year bookings forecast—the amount users actually pay—from $8.28 billion–$8.55 billion to $7.33 billion–$7.60 billion, a reduction of about $1 billion.

The burden of responding to regulations has also led to legal battles. According to U.S. legal news outlet Courthouse News on the 21st (local time), a Roblox shareholder recently filed a derivative lawsuit, arguing that the impact of the age-verification rollout was not adequately explained to investors, even though the company’s outlook was lowered and its stock price fell about 18% afterward. Roblox, which has been embroiled in legal disputes with U.S. state governments and local governments over child-safety issues, now faces a lawsuit from an investor as well.

Against this backdrop, Roblox is looking for a way forward among adult users. In its first-quarter shareholder letter in late April, the company identified users aged 18 and over—the largest user group in the existing gaming market—as an untapped opportunity and said it would actively expand its reach among them. Accordingly, starting in June, Roblox raised the share of in-game spending by age-verified adult users in the United States that goes to creators from 26.6% to 37.8%, but only for games that meet certain requirements. The increased creator rewards are intended to encourage the development of more games adults would enjoy. In South Korea, Roblox also teamed up with MUSINSA to open a pop-up store in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, in July, expanding its engagement with consumers in their 20s and 30s.

Recent trends among people in their 20s and 30s are also helping Roblox’s strategy. Memes related to Roblox are spreading on social media, while recommendations for games suited to adult tastes and tips on how to play them are being shared, leading to a rapid increase in users in their 20s and 30s turning to Roblox.

According to app and payment data analytics firm WiseApp Retail, Roblox’s monthly active users (MAU) among people in their 20s in South Korea rose 41.3%, from 904,880 in September last year to 1,278,783 in September this year. This suggests that its push to attract adult users is beginning to pay off.

Experts say Roblox’s efforts to expand its adult user base are unlikely to be smooth sailing. Jeon Seong-min, a professor of business administration at Gachon University, said, “Changing a customer base usually takes a long time, but Roblox is in a situation where it has to speed up the transition because of regulatory changes. It is difficult to attract older users with content centered on children, but leaning too heavily toward adult content would not fit the platform’s character, so it needs to find the right balance.”

Wi Jeong-hyeon, a professor of business administration at Chung-Ang University, predicted that because Roblox’s expansion into the adult market began amid a sense of crisis over tighter regulations for teenagers, the company could eventually give up on younger users if it sees meaningful revenue from adults. Professor Wi warned that if this trend spreads across the industry, the children’s content market itself could shrink. He said, “Even in South Korea’s gaming industry, as regulations on content for teenagers have tightened, there has been a growing tendency to make games specifically for adults.”

With child-protection regulations moving in the same direction around the world, platforms that have grown on the strength of younger users are expected to face increasingly difficult questions.

Reporter An Du-won · Intern Reporter Lee Geon-u