Tomorrow’s Update Poses Existential Threats for Small Groups and Games

Tomorrow, Roblox is releasing an update which makes it so that new games, after going through the payment procedures for publishing, will only be accessible to users who are 16+ until they have achieved a certain number of monthly users (and some other requirements) and are deemed as safe for younger audiences. Here is the Roblox devforum post discussing this topic.

A huge amount of concern was expressed over the chat update, and with only about 50% of global users verified, that update has been detrimental to the ability to create and operate groups, but Roblox hasn't seemed to be focused on communities for a while so that isn't shocking. This update, somehow, seems as if it is going to be worse.

This new update will effectively close down many groups. I'm a member of a military group where about 80% of our daily users are under 16, and if they cannot access the game, our community will die. Not only will this end a group with a 17 year history, but as smaller games close, it will finalize Roblox's descent from a website where many small communities thrive into one where only front page, money-grab, slop games are playable for the majority of people. It also essentially institutionally neglects the largest age group, because games that are dedicated to younger kids likely won't ever meet the monthly player threshold because older kids won't play them.

My hope is that as Roblox's stock continues to slide, they will be forced to rescind this update if new games can't find success, but if that takes a long time (assuming a recission does happen) there's no telling how many groups will be affected.

I don't know if any of you have games that will be affected by this, but if so feel free to speak about it here and to say if you've met the threshold to be accessible to younger players. I would also love to hear your predictions on if this will be rescinded, because my guess is that it won't, as Roblox seems unwilling to admit its mistakes.