Roblox Just Split Into Three Platforms — Here's What That Means for Every Player
Roblox is no longer a single experience. As of June 16, 2026, the platform has globally launched two new account tiers — Roblox Kids and Roblox Select — that fundamentally restructure how younger users access games, chat, and social features. According to the official Roblox newsroom, these accounts introduce additional review layers for all games available to users younger than 16, and they enforce strict chat restrictions based on verified age.
This isn't a minor settings update or a parental controls refresh. Roblox has effectively segmented its entire user base into three distinct experiences: Roblox Kids for ages 5–8, Roblox Select for ages 9–15, and standard Roblox for age-verified users 16 and older. The rollout follows initial testing in Australia, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, and it's now live everywhere.
For the millions of players who treat Roblox as their primary gaming platform, this changes everything from which games appear in your catalog to whether you can type a single word in chat. If you've been following Roblox news, you know the platform has been moving toward age-gating for over a year. Now it's here, and the details matter.
What Are Roblox Kids and Roblox Select Accounts?
Roblox Kids is the most restricted account tier, designed for users ages 5–8, with chat fully disabled by default and access limited to games that have passed additional content reviews beyond standard moderation. Roblox Select serves users ages 9–15, offering a slightly broader game catalog and gradually increasing chat access as users age — though parental controls remain active throughout. Standard Roblox accounts are for age-verified users 16 and older, who get the full platform experience.
Users are automatically placed into the appropriate account tier based on their age. There's no opt-in or selection process — the system assigns your tier, and your experience adjusts accordingly. This is a meaningful departure from the old model, where a 7-year-old and a 14-year-old could technically access the same game catalog with the main differences being parental control toggles.
The critical distinction here is between age-checked and self-declared users. If you've completed Roblox's age verification — either through ID verification or their Facial Age Estimation technology — you get the full feature set for your tier. Self-declared users, meaning those who simply entered a birthdate during signup, get placed into Kids or Select but with chat completely disabled regardless of age. Roblox is clearly incentivizing verification, and the trade-off is stark: verify your age or lose access to social features entirely.
Which Games Can You Actually Play on Kids and Select Accounts?
Both Roblox Kids and Roblox Select accounts have access to tens of thousands of games, but every title in those catalogs has undergone additional review beyond Roblox's standard moderation pipeline. In the U.S., confirmed available titles include Driving Empire, Grow a Garden, and the How to Train Your Dragon experience. Roblox says the "vast majority" of popular games are included, but that qualifier is doing real work in that sentence.
The additional review process is substantial. Games must carry appropriate content maturity labels, and Roblox runs real-time evaluations that analyze actual gameplay rather than just scanning code or assets. Reports from users 16 and older feed into these evaluations, creating a feedback loop where the older community effectively helps curate the younger catalog. Any game featuring social hangout mechanics, free-form drawing, or sensitive subject matter is excluded entirely.
For developers, the barriers to publishing for younger audiences have increased significantly. Before a game can appear in Kids or Select catalogs, the developer must complete ID verification, enable two-factor authentication, and either hold a Roblox subscription or pay a one-time refundable publishing fee. This creates a financial and identity gate that filters out low-effort or anonymous creators — a reasonable trade-off, though it does raise the barrier for young or independent developers who build some of the platform's most creative experiences.
If you're hunting for specific titles to play, check our roundup of the best Roblox games — though keep in mind that availability will now depend on your account tier.
How Does Chat Work Under the New Age-Based System?
Chat is completely disabled for all users who haven't completed an age check, regardless of what age they entered during registration. For age-verified users ages 5–8 on Roblox Kids, chat is also off by default, but parents can enable text-only chat through parental controls. Age-verified users 9–15 on Roblox Select see chat access gradually unlock as they age, with parental override available throughout. Only age-verified users 16 and older get unrestricted chat access.
This is arguably the most aggressive change in the entire rollout. Under the previous system, chat was available to most users with various filter levels. Now, an unverified 12-year-old — someone who might have been chatting on Roblox for years — loses chat access entirely until they complete age verification. That's going to create friction, and Roblox knows it. The company is betting that the safety benefits outweigh the short-term user frustration.
When chat is available, users can only communicate with others in their own or similar age groups, or with "Trusted Friends" — a designation for people they know in real life. Text filters and automatic chat rephrasing remain active at all times, and all conversations are monitored for child exploitation. Social media links, which were already banned in chat, are now restricted platform-wide: only age-verified users 16 and older can share or even view social media links on profiles, game pages, Community pages, and the Creator Hub.
The social media link restriction is particularly noteworthy. It means that a 14-year-old on a Select account can't even see a developer's Twitter link on a game page. Whether you view that as overprotective or appropriately cautious probably depends on whether you're a parent, a player, or a creator trying to build an audience.
What Parental Controls Come With These New Accounts?
Parents who link their own Roblox account to their child's account gain access to an expanded suite of controls that adjust based on the child's age. For children ages 5–8, parents can enable in-game text chat, which is otherwise disabled by default. Until a child turns 13, parents can review friend lists, block or report contacts, approve or decline Trusted Friend requests, and set screen-time and spending limits. Until the child turns 16, parents retain the ability to change chat settings and allow or block specific games.
Leonardo S., a Brazilian father and member of Roblox's Global Parent Council, described the new accounts as providing "more peace of mind by pairing built-in safeguards with tools that help parents stay connected to their child's experience." That's the corporate-endorsed perspective, but the practical reality is more nuanced. These controls only work if parents actually link their accounts and engage with the settings — and Roblox's own data has historically suggested that parental control adoption rates are lower than the company would like.
The age-graduated control model is smart in theory. Rather than giving parents a binary on/off switch, controls shift gradually from parent-managed to teen-managed as the child ages. A 9-year-old's parent has near-total control; a 15-year-old's parent has more of an advisory role. By 16, the controls transfer to the user. This mirrors how most families actually handle digital independence — or at least how they should.
Does Roblox Moments Work on Kids and Select Accounts?
No. Roblox Moments, the feature that lets users capture and share gameplay clips, is not available for Kids or Select accounts at launch. This means users under 16 cannot create, share, or interact with gameplay clips on the platform. Roblox hasn't indicated whether this is a permanent restriction or a temporary limitation while they develop age-appropriate safeguards for the feature.
This is a meaningful loss for younger creators who use Moments as a way to showcase builds, share funny gameplay incidents, or participate in community trends. It also limits how younger users can engage with content from older creators, potentially creating a visibility gap between age tiers.
Why This Matters for Players
The immediate impact depends entirely on your age and verification status. If you're an age-verified adult, almost nothing changes — you keep your full Roblox experience and gain the minor benefit of knowing that your chat interactions are now age-segregated. If you're a teen on a Select account, you'll notice tighter chat restrictions and a slightly curated game catalog, but the core experience should remain largely intact.
The real disruption hits unverified users. Anyone who hasn't completed Roblox's age check now loses chat access entirely, regardless of how long they've been on the platform. For a service where social interaction is half the appeal — where players coordinate in team games, trade items, and build communities — losing chat is losing a fundamental part of the experience. This will push millions of users toward age verification, which requires either government ID or facial scanning. For younger users, that means parental involvement is no longer optional.
For the broader Roblox ecosystem, this segmentation creates interesting dynamics. Developers now have to consider which age tiers they're building for, and the additional review requirements for Kids and Select catalogs could slow down how quickly new games reach younger audiences. Popular titles on our Roblox guides page may need updates to reflect tier-specific availability. The gaming landscape on Roblox is becoming more structured, and that structure comes with trade-offs.
There's also a competitive angle. Roblox is positioning itself as the responsible choice in a market where regulators worldwide are scrutinizing how platforms handle young users. If this system works well, it gives Roblox a regulatory moat that competitors like Fortnite and Minecraft will need to match. If it creates too much friction, players will simply migrate to platforms with fewer barriers.
What We Think
Roblox's three-tier system is the most significant structural change the platform has made since it launched on mobile. And on balance, it's the right call — even if the execution will inevitably frustrate some users in the short term.
The gaming industry has spent years paying lip service to child safety while leaving the actual work to parents who often don't have the technical literacy or time to configure complex settings. Roblox is flipping that model: safety is now the default, and openness requires active verification. That's a better paradigm, even if it's an inconvenient one.
The chat restrictions are where this system will face its biggest test. Killing chat for unverified users is a blunt instrument, and it will disproportionately affect users in regions where ID verification is less accessible or where parents are less likely to engage with digital platforms. Roblox's Facial Age Estimation technology partially addresses this, but it introduces its own concerns about biometric data collection from minors. The company needs to be transparent about how that data is stored, used, and eventually deleted.
We're also watching the developer side closely. The new publishing requirements — ID verification, 2FA, subscription or fee — are reasonable for established creators, but they raise the barrier for the bedroom developers who have historically been Roblox's creative lifeblood. If a talented 14-year-old can't easily publish a game that reaches their peers without jumping through hoops their parents need to help with, that's a creativity cost worth tracking. If you're a creator looking at how this affects specific games, our gaming news section will cover the developer-facing impacts as they emerge.
The age-segregated social features are the most philosophically interesting aspect of this rollout. Roblox is essentially saying that a 10-year-old and a 25-year-old shouldn't be chatting together unless there's a specific, verified reason for it. That's a position most parents would agree with, but it also limits the kind of cross-generational mentorship and community building that has made Roblox special. The "Trusted Friends" system is supposed to bridge that gap, but its effectiveness will depend entirely on how easy and intuitive it is to use.
Overall, Roblox is making a bet that safety-first design won't kill engagement. Given the regulatory environment — with COPPA updates looming in the U.S. and the EU's Digital Services Act already in effect — this is also a bet they probably had to make. The question isn't whether age-based accounts are the right direction; it's whether Roblox can execute them without making the platform feel like a series of walled gardens instead of the open, chaotic, creative playground that made it a cultural phenomenon.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Roblox Kids and Roblox Select?
Roblox Kids is for age-verified users ages 5–8 and features the strictest settings, including chat disabled by default and a heavily curated game catalog. Roblox Select is for age-verified users ages 9–15 and offers a broader selection of games with chat access that gradually increases as the user ages. Both account types give parents control over settings, but Select accounts are designed to provide more digital independence as kids approach their teen years.
Can you still chat on Roblox without verifying your age?
No. As of the global launch on June 16, 2026, any user who has not completed an age check — either through ID verification or Facial Age Estimation — cannot access chat on Roblox, regardless of the age they entered during account creation. Self-declared users are placed into Kids or Select accounts based on their stated age, but chat remains disabled until verification is complete. This applies to both new and existing accounts.
Do parents need to set up controls manually for Roblox Kids accounts?
No, the strictest safety settings are enabled by default on Roblox Kids accounts. Parents don't need to take any action for the baseline protections to be active. However, parents who want to adjust settings — such as enabling text chat for a 5–8 year old — do need to link their own Roblox account to their child's account and use the Parental Controls dashboard. Additional controls like screen-time limits, spending limits, and friend list management are available for linked parents of children under 13.
Are popular Roblox games available on Kids and Select accounts?
Roblox states that the "vast majority" of popular games are available on both Kids and Select accounts, with tens of thousands of titles in each catalog. Confirmed U.S. titles include Driving Empire, Grow a Garden, and How to Train Your Dragon. However, games that include social hangout features, free-form drawing, or sensitive content are excluded. Games must also pass additional real-time evaluations beyond standard moderation before appearing in the younger account catalogs. Check our list of the best Roblox games for titles worth trying across account types.
Will Roblox Moments be available for younger users?
Not at launch. Roblox Moments, which allows users to capture and share gameplay clips, is unavailable for both Kids and Select accounts as of the June 2026 global rollout. Roblox has not confirmed whether this is a permanent restriction or a temporary measure while they develop age-appropriate safeguards for the clip-sharing feature. Users 16 and older with standard Roblox accounts retain full access to Moments.
What happens when a Roblox Kids user turns 9 or a Select user turns 16?
Roblox accounts are designed to grow with users. When a Kids account holder turns 9, their account automatically transitions to Roblox Select, unlocking a broader game catalog and the beginning of graduated chat access. When a Select user turns 16, they move to a standard Roblox account with full platform access, provided they complete an age check via ID verification or Facial Age Estimation. Parental controls phase out at 16, transferring full control to the user.