Roblox says “chat will remain off in the majority of the Middle East" until Arabic moderation matures

• Chat stays off across most of the Middle East until Arabic moderation matures, no timeline given.
• English PII detection runs at 98%, the bar Arabic moderation has yet to clear.
• Incubator and Jumpstart launched globally in 2026, no MENA-specific fund confirmed.
• Roblox engages regulators across MENA and Türkiye, but won't confirm GAMR-style arrangements elsewhere.

In May, PocketGamer.biz published an analysis of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between Savvy Games Group and Roblox, a partnership tied to a developer training programme running across Saudi Arabia's school system. 

The piece examined the deal against the backdrop of Roblox's September 2025 coordination with the General Authority for Media Regulation, which led to in-experience chat being disabled across Saudi Arabia, and the consolidated child-safety litigation the platform faces in the United States. 

PocketGamer.biz subsequently interviewed Roblox MENAT general manager Mohamed El Sheakh on the platform's regional strategy, the September 2025 changes in Saudi Arabia, its engagement with regulators across the wider region and its 2030 priorities.

El-Sheakh did not address some specific points, including moderator headcount, a defined timeline for restoring in-experience chat in Saudi Arabia, and the impact of the consolidated US litigation on regional partnership discussions.

PocketGamer.biz: What metrics are driving Roblox’s MENA push today: users, engagement, creator growth, revenue, or something else?

Mohamed El Sheakh: There is not one metric driving Roblox’s growth in the region, or in any market around the world. What we assess is a combination of scale, engagement, and creator opportunity, which are signals that reinforce each other. 

Globally, as reported in our most recent financial earnings, Roblox averages 132 million daily active users across 190 countries, which is a scale worldwide that we’re really proud of and allows players to tangibly impact the creator economy. 

In 2025 alone, creators earned more than $1.5 billion through our Developer Exchange. The monetisation growth from our creators shows how our platform can help build the gaming ecosystem, particularly in MENA. 

Are there plans for a MENA-specific creator fund, accelerator, or grant programme?

We are always looking for ways to support our developers and community around the world. This year, we launched two new programmes to support builders working on the next generation of games: the Roblox Incubator Program, which helps experienced development teams turn promising concepts into commercially successful games.

And then the Roblox Jumpstart Program, which helps creators new to Roblox publish through Roblox Studio. These programmes have been of particular interest to our MENA creators who continue to drive the growth of the local ecosystem.

In-experience chat remains disabled across Saudi Arabia. Is there a defined path or set of conditions under which chat would be restored, and what are they?

In September 2025, we made the proactive decision to temporarily disable certain communication features on the platform in the region as we continue to improve our Arabic moderation technology. This decision came out of our close collaboration with regulatory authorities, including the General Authority for Media Regulation in Saudi Arabia, to build a platform that serves the needs and culture of the region, supporting digital skills, education, and a growing creator economy. 

We employ an extensive, multi-layer system with built-in safeguards designed to monitor and block harmful content on our platform. This includes a combination of AI and human safety specialists to review content within games and experiences before they are published, with a longer review period for games available in the upcoming Kids and Select catalogues.

We've also built a real-time multimodal moderation system that can scan and evaluate combinations of content, avatars, movements, and settings in alignment with our Community Standards. The vast combination of features we constantly moderate is harder to do at scale in Arabic, and Roblox is working to invest in Arabic-native models that understand various dialects to strengthen our Arabic-language moderation capabilities.

Right now, our English PII technology currently detects 98% of attempts to share personal information that could put players at risk. Until the Arabic language moderation technology is closer to the maturity of our English-language models, chat will remain off in the majority of the Middle East.

Have similar coordinated arrangements been reached with regulators in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, or Egypt? What does regulatory engagement look like across those markets?

We actively engage with regulators and policymakers in the region to navigate the evolving landscape of this industry, and we're grateful for the discussions we've had with governments across the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye.

What we've seen in our collaborations worldwide is that everyone ultimately shares the same goal: keep children safe while empowering them to play and learn. Sharing that common goal means our conversations are open, honest, and constructive. They are also particularly insightful in this region because there is a unique interest in advancing the gaming sector, paired with a young, digitally savvy population.

When regulators in the region outline local values, cultural norms, and sensitivities, that comes with a nuanced and in-depth understanding of the platform's technology, which allows us to clearly align on the region's needs and how we can keep up with the capabilities of the growing user base.

More than 140 child safety lawsuits have been consolidated in California alleging design failures. How does Roblox reassure MENA regulators and education partners while those cases are ongoing, and has the litigation affected any regional partnership discussions?

Roblox is deeply committed to fostering a safe, healthy, and age-appropriate environment for our community. While no system is perfect, we are constantly innovating and investing in safety and launching new safeguards and tools.

Earlier this year, Roblox became the first online gaming platform to require age checks for all users to access chat features, so that younger users are limited to chatting only with peers by default. Chat is disabled by default for users under nine, and remains off in a majority of the Middle East for users of all ages.

In June, we will begin introducing two new age-based accounts for younger users on Roblox: Roblox Kids for users ages 5 to 8 and Roblox Select for users ages 9 to 15. Users under 16 will be assigned to account types based on Age Checks or through parental controls.

We prohibit user-to-user image and video sharing, utilise rigorous filters to block personal information from being shared, and work closely with law enforcement to support investigations to help hold bad actors accountable.

Come 2030, what measurable outcomes does Roblox expect to produce in MENA: creators earning income, published games, jobs, educational adoption, or something else?

Roblox's goal for the region is to continue to strengthen the local creator economy, expand access for more developers to learn by building, support educational initiatives that empower people of all ages to develop digital skills, and contribute to the region's long-term gaming ecosystem growth.

We've already seen a glimpse of the possibilities with the recent Play to Learn programme we partnered with Savvy Games Group on, where more than 719,000 students, 7,705 schools, and 36,000 instructors participated in a game design competition.

This inaugural programme shows the kind of measurable educational and creator impact Roblox can have in the market, and we know there is a large appetite to expand this type of programming across the region in the coming years.