‘Roblox’ refutes child exploitation claims

Roblox studio boss Stefano Corazza has hit back at claims the gaming platform “exploits” children.

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In 2021 a video from People Make Games claimed that online game creation system Roblox was taking advantage of its young playerbase by selling them the dream that they could become entrepreneurs with their creations and earn “serious cash” in the process.

Anyone can create a Roblox experience via the platform’s ‘Create’ tool, which also offers tutorials and support. However, game developers are paid with in-game currency Roblux, with Roblox taking a 75.5 per cent cut of all profits. By comparison, Steam takes 30 per cent.

The documentary went on to claim that Roblox is designed to “turn its young users into workers”.

In a new interview with Eurogamer, Corazza has admitted: “You can say, ‘Okay, we are exploiting child labour,’ right? Or, you can say we are offering people anywhere in the world the capability to get a job and an income.”

“I can be a 15-years-old living in a slum in Indonesia, and with just a laptop, I can create something, make money and then sustain my life,” he added.

“Our average game developer is in their 20s. But of course there are people that are teenagers, and we have hired some teenagers that had millions of players on the platform. Hearing from their experience, they didn’t feel like they were exploited,” he continued. “They felt like, ‘Oh my god, this was the biggest gift, all of a sudden I could create something, I had millions of users, I made so much money I could retire’”.

Carozza then said: “I focus more on the amount of money that we distribute every year to creators, which is now getting close to a billion dollars, which is phenomenal.”

“And imagine the millions of kids that learn how to code every month,” he added. “I think that we are really focusing on the learning – the curriculum, if you want – and really bringing people on and empowering them to be professionals.”

Last year, Roblox was criticised for manually curating “grossly inappropriate content” for children. It was also reported that the game was blocked from PlayStation consoles over worries it could “potentially exploit” children.

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