Marsh
Mallow, we still hear 'Roblox is for little kids' in every planning meeting. For our targeting, who actually plays it now?
Mallow
Let's do scale first, then composition. Q1 2026: 132 million daily active users, up 35% year over year, and 31 billion hours engaged in the quarter, up 43%. That's the reach. Now the composition — and it's not what the cliché says.
Marsh
Okay, hit me with the age breakdown.
Mallow
Among users who have age-checked, as of late March: 36% are under 13, 38% are 13–17, and 26% are 18 or older. So nearly two-thirds are 13 or older, and more than a quarter are adults. The single biggest slice is teens — 13–17 — not young children.
Marsh
"Among users who have age-checked" — what's that qualifier doing? Is that everyone?
Mallow
Important nuance. By the end of Q1, 51% of global DAUs had completed an age check — and 65% in the U.S. So that 36/38/26 split describes the age-checked half, not literally every account. But it's the best age data Roblox has ever published, and the direction is unambiguous: this is not a toddler platform.
Marsh
You flagged the over-18 group as interesting. Why?
Mallow
Because it's the growth engine. Roblox calls over-18 users "the largest segment of the traditional gaming market" and is going after it aggressively. In the U.S., the over-18 cohort's DAU and hours both grew 40% year over year — and within that, the 18–34 group grew over 50%, faster than any other cohort.
Marsh
Do those adults actually spend, or just show up?
Mallow
They spend. In the U.S., over-18 users monetize more than 50% higher than under-18 users. That's exactly why Roblox raised the U.S. DevEx rate on in-game spend from age-checked over-18 users to 37.8% (from 26.6%) on June 8 — it's paying creators more to build for adults, as long as you use the R15 avatar framework.
Marsh
So the platform is deliberately aging up?
Mallow
Adding an older layer — without abandoning the young base. Under-13 and teens are still enormous. But the marginal growth and the higher monetization are increasingly coming from teens and adults. For audience planning, that widens who you can credibly target on Roblox.
Marsh
The letter said growth 'decelerated.' Why?
Mallow
Largely self-inflicted, by the age-check rollout. Requiring an age check to chat restricted communication for non-age-checked users and slowed new-user acquisition. So part of the deceleration is the cost of building the verified, age-segmented platform — the same machinery that produces this age data and powers Kids/Select.
Marsh
For a company running a Roblox game, what's the takeaway?
Mallow
Pick your cohort deliberately. (1) Under-13 is the largest by count and lives in the Kids/Select catalogs — huge, but the most safety-gated. (2) Teens (13–17) are the plurality at 38% — the classic Roblox core. (3) Over-18 is the fastest-growing and highest-spending, and Roblox is actively subsidizing it through DevEx. Your content, art style, and monetization should match whichever you target — "the Roblox audience" is no longer one thing.
Marsh
Executive summary?
Mallow
(1) Q1 2026: 132M DAU (+35%), 31B hours (+43%). (2) Among age-checked users (51% of global DAU, 65% in the U.S.): 36% under 13, 38% are 13–17, 26% are 18+ — most are teens or older, and a quarter are adults. (3) The over-18 cohort is the growth and money engine: +40% DAU/hours in the U.S., 18–34 up 50%+, adults monetize 50%+ more — so Roblox raised the U.S. 18+ DevEx rate to 37.8%. (4) Takeaway: choose your cohort — kids, teens, or adults — on purpose; the audience is no longer monolithic.
Marsh
So 'Roblox equals little kids' is outdated. It's teens-and-up, with a fast-growing, higher-spending adult layer. That changes who we'd build for.
