Roblox, a highly well-liked children’ gaming website, has revealed plans to debut on PlayStation gaming devices from Sony.
According to the company, Roblox boasts more than 60 million daily users, but it has been criticism for the content’s lacklustre management.
Along with these updates, Roblox Connect, a new way to create characters, and Quest, Meta’s VR platform, received complete releases.
In October 2023, it will be accessible on PlayStation 4 and PS5.
It was formerly restricted to Microsoft’s Xbox One console, desktops, and mobile devices.
Roblox is making a significant leap as it solidifies its place as one of the most well-liked gaming platforms in the world.
Although the exact popularity of the game is unknown, according to a 2020 Bloomberg report from Roblox, two-thirds of all US children between the ages of nine and 12 play it.
In addition, Roblox was shown to be far more popular than its nearest competitor in a Statista study of 400,000 UK kids that same year. While 67% of kids claimed to play Roblox, only 23% reported to play Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time.
Its popularity is a result of its emphasis on creativity; rather than being a standard game, it enables users to create their own games using it. Roblox really refers to users as developers.
These game makers, who are frequently kids, are able to design games and possibly potentially earn Robux, an in-game currency, from other players.
It is often commended for enabling young people to enter the game design industry and express their creativity, yet that same independence and popularity have led to criticism of the industry.
The NSPCC and Childline informed the BBC in 2022 that since the outbreak, there had been a five-fold increase in the number of youngsters phoning their helpline with worries about Roblox.
At the annual Developers Conference for Roblox, the launch was revealed.
Roblox said that the open beta version that was made available on Meta Quest earlier this year received positive reviews.
More than one million people downloaded the test version of the game in its first five days, and the developer stated a complete launch on Quest will happen later this month. The beta version was made available to players with either a Quest 2 or Quest Pro headset.
However, despite repeated requests, a PlayStation version was not made available until today.
There were few specifics about the launch, although Roblox stated that players would be able to “access the full catalogue of Roblox experiences” on both PlayStation consoles from the past and current generations.
Additionally, Roblox unveiled Connect, a tool that would let users call other players in-game while utilising their real identities, body language, and facial expressions.
Roblox allows users to give their in-game persona their own facial expressions by pointing a camera at their own face.
The business initially made a version of this motion-capture technology available in August, but Roblox Connect is the first attempt to integrate the technology with phoning pals.
Players 13 and older can use motion-capture technology, according to a blog post from Roblox that explains it.
Before their camera may be utilised, players must grant Roblox permission. Roblox stated in a privacy warning that it does not record or store information obtained from a player’s camera, making it clear that “video from your camera never leaves your device.”
Roblox Connect’s launch locations are still unknown, but the company promises to provide more information in the future.