Dominant
Age checks arrive by court order
The defining child-safety story in games, and the one that turned age verification from platform policy into something players meet at the point of purchase. Community pushback centres on breach risk rather than on child safety.
Where it stands
Regulators shifted from suing Roblox to compelling it: state AG suits and a 148-case federal MDL were joined in August 2026 by a Senate Judiciary probe with a records deadline, while Australia's eSafety served transparency notices on Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite and Steam and then extracted a court-enforceable undertaking. Roblox disputes the claims and now requires facial age estimation for chat. The mechanics followed the enforcement: Microsoft makes Australians verify age by selfie, ID or credit card before buying 18+ titles on the Xbox Store; in September 2026 Steam began requiring a credit card for R18+ purchases in Australia and the Epic Games Store announced age checks for R18+ titles, while Ofcom and the EU tighten in parallel. Elsewhere the response is blunter, with outright blocks in Turkey, Russia, Egypt and the Gulf. And it is no longer only Roblox: Brazil suspended Discord livestreaming after a teenager's death, and a Texas judge ordered Discord age checks.
Further reading
The timeline, consequences and objections for this trend are not written yet. What it is and its reading list are above.