It’s likely that you’ve never played or even heard of Grow a Garden, a new user-created experience in Roblox. But millions of people have. In fact, the very simple farming sim at one point had over 5 million active players, beating out games like Counter-Strike 2 and Marvel Rivals on Steam. It’s likely Grow a Garden is one of the most played games on the planet right now. And it was developed by a teenager in a few days.
So yeah, Grow a Garden is popular. The simple farming game was developed by a teenager according to Janzen Madsen, the owner of Splitting Point, a game studio which has taken over management of the game since it hit the big time. Madsen told GameFile that the unnamed creator still retains “like 50 percent of the game.”
It’s Matty
Madsen told the outlet that the original creator made Grow a Garden in about three days. And it shows. Watching gameplay of it, the menus, visuals, and gameplay are very basic and look more like a prototype of something that will be finished later. But this is the game. And millions of people around the world are playing it everyday, growing crops and sharing videos of their adventures on TikTok.
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While some might be surprised that something like Grow a Garden is reaching millions of players, the reality is that Roblox has become a massive platform. It recently, with the help of hit games like Grow a Garden, reached over 16 million active users. Games like Brookhaven, Dress to Impress, and Adopt Me are more likely to be the games kids are playing these days than GTA, Call of Duty, or even Minecraft.
Fortnite Criticized For Use Of AI Darth Vader, Cyberpunk 2077 Sequel Will Introduce New City, And More Top Stories
Also fans of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 are obsessed with the ways enemies troll them
By
Kotaku Staff
This week saw Fortnite targeted by SAG-AFTRA for its use of an AI-powered Darth Vader voice that mimics that of the late James Earl Jones. Also, the folks behind Assassin’s Creed Shadows told us why they opted not to let you kill animals in the open-world adventure, fans of Clair Obscur react to the trollish behavior of the game’s enemies, and Neil Druckmann is once again explaining stuff about the world of The Last of Us that some fans, at least—our writer included--think would be better left ambiguous.
One of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's big innovations is adding a dodge, parry, and counter system to its otherwise traditional turn-based battles. It’s a clever tweak that helps keep combat engrossing for its 30+ hour journey and also an incredible opportunity for the game’s developers to troll the crap out of players. - Ethan Gach Read More
You might not know it based on my scathing recaps of The Last of Us’ second season, but I love this series. I love the moral conundrums it presents, the violent grief it depicts, and the games’ excellent writing that poignantly brings all of those complicated emotions to the surface. What I don’t like is listening to pretty much any of the creative team talk about the series, especially when it comes to weighing in on decade-long discourse around its complex storylines. Even when I agree with series director Neil Druckmann’s interpretation of something, we’d all rather he just let bad readings fester in the corners of the internet than tell us exactly what something means. Nevertheless, he continues to do so in interviews. - Kenneth Shepard Read More
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a very good game that animal lovers can enjoy because there’s no way to harm a single creature in the game (except for people, of course). That’s a first for the franchise and I wanted to learn why Ubisoft went this route for its latest open-world adventure. - Zack Zwiezen Read More
Xbox Game Pass has been killing it this year and May is especially packed. The subscription library is getting a load of cool indies as well as 2024 GOTY contender Metaphor: ReFantazio. That’s on top of all of the heavy hitters that already arrived earlier in the month. There is, quiet simply, no time to play them all. - Ethan Gach Read More
WizKids announced a new collection of Baldur’s Gate 3 miniatures last fall that featured Karlach, Gale, Shadowheart, and other memorably party members from the hit 2023 Dungeon & Dragons-based RPG. The $50 box set has since been released and the figurines look so bad fans are being promised their money back. - Ethan Gach Read More
SAG-AFTRA, the massive actors and media union with over 160,000 members, has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Epic Games over its inclusion of an AI-powered Darth Vader in a recent Fortnite update. - Zack Zwiezen Read More
We still don’t know much about the Cyberpunk 2077 sequel currently in the works at CD Projekt Red. Development on the RPG, code-named “Orion,” is in full swing after the studio wrapped support for the original game last year, but the team is still keeping most details about it under wraps, other than a few informal quotes here and there about the vibe it’s trying to capture. However, Mike Pondsmith, the creator of the Cyberpunk tabletop roleplaying game, which first debuted in 1988, has revealed a pretty important piece of information: Alongside returning to the capitalist hellscape of Night City, the sequel will take us to another city as well. - Kenneth Shepard Read More
RPG fans love their Collector’s Editions, but few guessed just how big or good Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 would turn out to be, including its own developers. The result was that a very limited set of physical releases, including Collector’s Editions exclusive to certain retailers, immediately vanished from store shelves. People are now trying to resell them for as much as $1,500 on eBay, but fortunately developer Sandfall Interactive has just announced it’s making more. - Ethan Gach Read More
GameStop must be trying to clear out some space, because the national video game retailer is selling a huge assortment of AAA games, remakes, and recent releases for $15 and $30 as part of a new sale. So why not take advantage of this corporate clean-up and grab some big games for less than half the normal price? - Zack Zwiezen Read More
Country Bans Roblox Due To Possibility Of Child Exploitation
Roblox Studio says it will work together with Turkey to bring Roblox back online in the country
By
Zack Zwiezen
The popular online free-to-play game Robloxhas been banned in Turkey due to concerns the country’s government has over possible child exploitation.
Roblox, which launched in 2006, has recently found itself in a lot of hot water as multiple reports have come out over the last few years suggesting the game might not be safe for kids to play. In July, Bloomberg reported that Roblox sent over 13,000 reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2023 alone. Earlier this year, an executive at Roblox Studio suggested the game, which lets users create their own content and make money off in-game purchases, could provide jobs to kids living in slums. Now, one country has seemingly seen enough and has outright banned Roblox.
Türkiye Today says the sudden ban was primarily driven by recent reports of in-game sexual content as well as alleged child exploitation happening in Roblox
“According to our Constitution,” posted Tunç, “our State is obliged to take the necessary measures to ensure the protection of our children. It is everyone’s duty to look out for, protect, and support the best interests of our children.”
Roblox
In a statement provided to Eurogamer, Roblox claimed it had spent the last two decades making the game “one of the safest online platforms” for its youngest players.
“Ensuring the safety of our users is at the core of everything we do,” a Roblox spokesperson told Eurogamer. “We respect the laws and regulations in countries where we operate and share local lawmakers’ commitment to children. We look forward to working together to ensure Roblox is back online in Turkey as soon as possible.”
In 2021, People Make Games reported on the alleged shady shit going on in Roblox, including that young kids were being overworked to produce games in an effort to produce more content and make more money. In April, Roblox Studio head Stefano Corazza was asked about growing concerns about children being exploited in Roblox.This was his answer:
“So, I can be like 15 years old, in Indonesia, living in a slum, and then now, with just a laptop, I can create something, make money, and then sustain my life.”
This comment didn’t go over well online and led to a lot of backlash. Shortly after the comment went public, the company was forced to release a lengthy response claiming that most creators are over 18 and that the company has never hired teenagers.
Released in 2006, Roblox is a multi-platform online video game where players use official tools to create, play, and share their own games and experiences with Roblox’s massive audience. Some of these games can become extremely popular, racking up millions of players and potentially earning its creators some money. But as previously reported by People Make Games, Roblox is a very shady enterprise and kids have reported crunching to get games done, being sexually harassed by other creators, and blowing their money on virtual items as the game makes it tricky to “cash out” and take your profits with you. Corazza’s recent comments about this whole situation at GDC 2024 haven’t helped much.
“I don’t know, you can say this for a lot of things, right?” said Corazza, “Like, you can say, ‘Okay, we are exploiting, you know, child labor,’ right? Or, you can say: we are offering people anywhere in the world the capability to get a job, and even like an income.”
Corazza offered up an example: “So, I can be like 15 years old, in Indonesia, living in a slum, and then now, with just a laptop, I can create something, make money, and then sustain my life.”
Seemingly realizing that what he just said didn’t sound great and sounded a lot like he was excusing child labor by suggesting it had some benefits, Corazza then pivoted and explained that this is just a result of Roblox going “broad” and having a “younger audience” before pivoting again mid-comment to point out that the average game dev on Roblox is in their 20s.
“But of course, there’s people that are teenagers - and we have hired some teenagers that had millions of players on the platform,” admitted Corazza.
Roblox
Corazza then pointed out that, according to what he’s heard, these kids and teens “didn’t feel like they were exploited,” which might be true but ignores that kids and teens are regularly exploited without realizing it because they are, y’know, still developing humans and not adults with years of world experience.
“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,” claimed Corazza.
While it’s true some developers on Roblox have made millions of dollars, arguably enough to retire on, the vast majority of devs aren’t making anywhere near that much money. Remember, Roblox pays out less than 30% of what a game earns to its creators. And if you want to cash out, you have to wait until your game has earned a minimum of 100,000 Robux. That amount of in-game currency equals $1,000, but when you cash out, after fees and Roblox’s cut, you end up with $350. This leads to some younger devs never cashing out, feeling like they lose too much, and instead spending it on Roblox items. If that reminds you of a company store and scrip system, you wouldn’t be the first to make that connection.
“So I focus more on the amount of money that we distribute every year to creators, which is now getting close to like a billion dollars, which is phenomenal,” said Corazza.
Eurogamer says that a PR rep stepped in during the interview and helpfully pointed out that “the vast majority of people that are earning money on Roblox are over the age of 18.” It’s almost like that person realized that bragging about how much money kids are making on your platform isn’t a great way to argue that you aren’t exploiting child labor.
Roblox Players Say Pro-Palestinian Games Are Being Taken Down [Update]
Some players say they received warnings for making in-game statements supporting Palestine
By
Alyssa Mercante
Two weeks ago, hundreds of Roblox players jumped into a custom game that let them take part in a pro-Palestine march. The game, which appeared to have been organized by Malaysian Roblox players, was made in response to the escalating violence in the Middle East. On October 7, the Islamic political and military organization Hamas, attacked, kidnapped, and killed around 1,400 Israeli citizens. Since that day, Israel has reportedly dropped more than 18,000 tons of explosives on the Gaza Strip, the six-mile wide piece of land that is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.
Roblox is a game creation system that allows players to build their own shareable games for others to enjoy online, and the pro-Palestine march gained a lot of attention. People took to social media to share their stories, with one person saying their young cousin attended the virtual march because they were too young to drive to one in-person. Others said this march was a sign that the “kids are alright.” The game featured Palestinian flags and a large, open square with the words “Solitary Untukmu” (Malay for “Solidarity for you”) on one end.
On November 5, an X (formerly Twitter) user named Qaali Husseinshared: “My daughter just told me that all the marches are gone…because they were reported for hate speech and antisemitism,” he wrote. One commenter responded, saying that the two Roblox games they had played that featured pro-Palestinian marches were also gone. “The one in the video got taken down first then the second one got privated,” they allege.
A Roblox spokesperson told Kotaku via email that one of the experiences referenced is “still live” and can be found at this link. However, the spokesperson notes, “the experience is set to private mode, which is a setting that was selected by the creator of the game.” When asked about the reports that additional pro-Palestinian experiences were taken down, the Roblox spokesperson could not confirm nor deny without specific details of the game itself, which I could not find online.
The same person who alleged that one pro-Palestinian game was taken down did receive a warning from Roblox for saying “FREE PALESTINE.” They shared a screenshot of that warning on X, which shows why the warning was issued (“political content”) and what the “offensive item” was (“FREE PALESTINE FREE PALESTINE”), but the moderator note seems somewhat at odds with the current Roblox community standards. The note reads: “Roblox does not permit support for current political candidates, parties, associated flags or symbols.”
However, a spokesperson for Roblox clarified the situation over email, writing that “the phrase ‘Free Palestine’ is compliant with Roblox’s Community Standards and is indeed allowed for use on our platform. It is considered an expression of solidarity as allowed by our Community Standards and is not recognized as prohibited political content.”
It’s not clear why the original poster’s statement was flagged.
Update 11/06/2023 7:00 p.m. ET: Updated story with a new quote from Roblox spokesperson.
Popular Online Game Accused Of Profiting Off Of Child Gambling
A class-action lawsuit by parents alleges the company behind Roblox is exploiting kids
By
Ethan Gach
Roblox has long been accused of not doing enough to make sure its massively popular gaming platform is free of toxicity and exploitation. Now parents are joining together in a class-action lawsuit to take the $17 billion company to court over allegations that it gets children into online gambling and profits off of it.
As first reported byBloomberg Law (via Axios), the lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Northern District of California on August 15 on behalf of parents Rachel Colvin and Danielle Sass. They accuse the enormously successful game creation tool (that doubles as an online social hangout with over 65 million active users)of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and claim it acts in concert with third-party websites “to profit from gambling games meant to attract kids.”
A handful of online gambling sites are also included as defendants in the lawsuit. The parents’ argument rests on the fact that Roblox users, including kids, can use their in-game Robux paid for with real world cash to gamble on virtual items. While Roblox officially bars gambling and other illicit activities, the lawsuit claims the company is complicit since it allows the funds to be transferred to the gambling websites directly through the Robux wallet, on which it earns a healthy commission.
“Each of the Illegal Gambling Websites operates on or in concert with Roblox and the Gambling Website Defendants, facilitating an exchange of Robux for gambling credits that occurs on the Roblox platform,” the lawsuit alleges. “Indeed, Robux never leave the Roblox platform until they are exchanged for cash. Once a minor user’s credits are exhausted, the Gambling Website Defendants cash out their newly-acquired Robux and provide Roblox with its 30% transaction fee.”
Roblox didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but told Bloomberg Law in a statement that, “These are third-party sites and have no legal affiliation to Roblox whatsoever. Bad actors make illegal use of Roblox’s intellectual property and branding to operate such sites in violation of our standards.” It added that it continues to be “vigilant” in going after companies that violate its policies or “endanger the safety” of its community.
Roblox has recently tried to leverage the success of its kid-centric platform by trying to appeal to more mature audiences with games rated for users 17 and older, and tools to do job interviews inside the platform. The ‘metaverse’ of our dreams is apparently just another awkward conversation where someone asks you where you see yourself in five years. Roblox has lost 40 percent of its market value since this time last year, despite continuing to attract new players.
Roblox Is Now Hilariously Pretending It Is Not A 'Game'
Roblox is a place where you play games, right? It ticks all the boxes, it’s obvious, we all know it is. So why, I…
By
Luke Plunkett
Roblox is a place where you play games, right? It ticks all the boxes, it’s obvious, we all know it is. So why, I wonder, has one of the world’s most popular, uh, entertainment service platforms suddenly stopped using the word “game”?
As The Verge reports, last week Roblox scrubbed almost all mentions of the word “game” from its descriptors, whether they be internal tabs (“games” now says “discover” in Roblox itself) or summaries of the game on the App Store and Google Play Store (where every mention of “game” has been replaced with “experience”).
The term ‘experiences’ is consistent with how we’ve evolved our terminology to reflect our realization of the metaverse. Roblox is an online community where people do things together in virtual worlds, and over the years, we began referring to these worlds as experiences, as they better represent the wide range of 3D immersive places – from lobbys to virtual concerts – that people can enjoy together with their friends.
So Roblox—which despite some Apple reservations is allowed to operate its own in-game store, as it’s categorised as an “app” and not a “game”—quietly removing all mentions of the word “game” at exactly this moment, when we’d all notice the timing, is if nothing else very funny in a, “My ‘Roblox is not a game’ t-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt” kinda way.
Dress To Impress Removes Hotdog Costume And You Can Probably Guess Why
The popular Roblox game replaced it with a new cupcake outfit due to 'inappropriate usage'
By
Zack Zwiezen
Dress To Impress, the extremely popular Roblox online game about creating themed outfits in a short amount of time to win awards, recently added some new costumes just in time for Halloween. One of these is a large hotdog. Remember that Roblox is, on paper at least, a kid’s game. So you can probably guess why the hotdog has been removed and replaced with a cupcake. (People were making dick outfits.)
Released last year, Dress To Impress has quickly become one of the most popular Roblox experiences on the platform. In fact, it’s one of the most popular games in the world right now. Seriously. I randomly checked how many people were playing it on Wednesday afternoon and over 301,000 people were playing the dress-up game at the same time. That would make it the third-most popular game on Steam. And based on some recent messages from folks who work on DTI, it seems a lot of those people were using the hotdog costume to make penises.
On October 22, Dress To Impress community manager Beaplays confirmed on Twitter that the hotdog costume had been “temporarily” removed from the game due to “inappropriate usage.” It seems some folks were changing the hotdog to a flesh color and popping a pink or brown hat on top to create an outfit that looked a lot like a penis.
“Just an update in case you haven’t already seen. The hotdog costume will be temporarily removed from DTI due to inappropriate usage. We plan to bring it back later with limitations on how you can color it/couple it with other items to reduce this,” posted the community manager.
They also confirmed a new cupcake costume has now been added to Dress To Impress. The hotdog is planned to return with more restrictions in November and when it returns the devs will try to make it so people can still create the Duolingo Owl mascot.
Not the first time Dress To Impress players were warned
Funnily enough, the community was warned about this already. On October 21, the day before the digital wiener was removed, DTI’s development manager said that the devs had noticed people using the hotdog costume to create naughty outfits. So they removed the option for people to change its color and said that if the hotdog continued to be “misused” it would be removed.
“We want to create a safe and friendly environment for our players and it was not intended to be used this way,” said the manager.
“Creativity is the point of the game, and we see a lot of tweets that prove that. But, we just can’t give other outlets to something this serious. We love all of your creativity with it (besides the reasons we are removing it..) but it’s better for us and for the community just to end it ASAP”
But this is the internet and if you give people the ability to create digital dicks, they’ll do it and keep doing it until either you stop them or they get bored. We shall see how long the hotdog will stick around when it returns. I’m going to say about two days.
Everyone Is Playing This Girly Dress-Up Game For Kids
Dress to Impress is a Roblox game seemingly run by teenagers, and the internet is going wild for it
By
Alyssa Mercante
Viral Roblox dress-up game Dress to Impress first hit my radar a few months ago via TikTok algorithm. Several gameplay videos showed off what looked like an ‘00s-era Bratz game: big-lipped, big-headed femme characters with bedroom eyes in a variety of skimpy outfits walking down a runway and posing at the end of it while a simple dance beat plays in the background.
I didn’t really understand the allure, and like many Roblox games, Dress to Impress seems to be mostly played by children. But before long, Dress to Impress (or DTI as those in the know call it) was everywhere—in my day-long charity event, in my friend group, on the streams of high-profile influencers like CaseOh and Madison Beer. Earlier this month, it peaked at well over 370,000 concurrent players, according to fan-run Roblox site Rolimon’s. So what’s the special sauce that’s making Dress to Impress so popular? And who is behind this viral fashion game?
How to dress to impress
The Dress to Impress concept is simple: you join a server, are given a theme (like “Dark Coquette” or “Holiday” or “Heroes Vs Villains”), and have a few minutes to put together an outfit from a curated selection, style your hair, do your makeup, and paint your nails. When the time is up, you walk down the runway, choosing a few poses to pull at the end of your strut. Players in your lobby will award each look between one and five stars, and the top three will get podium placement. Then, you rinse and repeat this process with a new theme.
Dress to Impress leans into one of the funnier elements of gaming: panic. There’s not a ton of time to put together your look, and there are separate timers for hair styling and skin tone selection that make it especially stressful for a new player trying to figure out how to navigate the menus. The clubby Y2K music speeds up as you near the end of the round, but you can’t make your character walk any faster than a stroll, so hilarity ensues in the final moments, especially if you’ve accidentally forgotten to give her a face (I did twice). Plus, a jump button hilariously ragdolls these wannabe models, which makes for pure chaos in the dressing room. The first round I play, I can’t figure out how to take any of the clothes off, so I walk out with three pairs of shoes on, each heel visually clipping through the other, tears in my eyes from laughing so hard.
There are ways to have a leg up on the competition, and it’s not just having a good eye for fashion. You can use Robux to buy better outfits and flashier accessories, which means the people (again, ostensibly kids) willing to fork over real money for in-game advantages will often win every round. $6,000 in Dress To Impress costs 1,500 Robux, and $20 will get you 1,700 Robux, though, confusingly, some of the outfits available for purchase can only be bought with Robux, not DTI dollars. As for how far your cash will go—not very: A cute flouncy skirt and shirt set will run you $1,800 in Dress to Impress money, while a shimmery faux-nude number costs $5,000, though any clothes you buy will at least remain unlocked on your DTI account for future use.
So far I’ve only played Dress to Impress the free way, pulling items from the mannequins that don’t cost any Robux or DTI dollars. I’ve played about a dozen rounds and only made the podium once during an Elements-themed showcase in which I put my model in head-to-toe flame print. This shit is rigged (and yes, there do appear to be cheaters who can “bot” the votes).
Everyone’s dressing to impress
The Dress to Impress Discord server has over 237,000 members at the time of publication, many of whom are teenagers (including those in the developer channel). But Dress to Impress is taking the gaming world by storm, breaking out of Roblox containment in a manner heretofore unseen, ushering in new, older players to join the relatively young player base.
Interestingly, despite how youthful many of the players I encounter are, putting together a look in Dress to Impress feels like dressing background characters for a Euphoria episode—the models walk on Barbie tip-toes even without heels on, their bodies are uniformly thin and big-boobed, the makeup options offer siren eyes and Kylie Jenner lips pre-dissolution of her filler. And the game recently announced a partnership with pop superstar Charli XCX to promote her latest studio album, Brat. The looks for the Dress to Impress x Brat collection include thongs peeking out over miniskirts, sky-high heels with straps that lace all the way up the model’s legs, and PVC two-pieces.
But again, this is ostensibly a children’s game, and the people behind it all appear to be rather young as well. The dev channel on the official Discord has intros for those working behind the scenes on Dress to Impress. Many of them are teenagers who live all over the globe (Lebanon, Hungary, Thailand) and worship pop stars like Charli XCX, Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna. The “owner” of Dress to Impress, known only as Gigi, is herself 17 years old. A 14 year old claims to be one of the game’s 3D modelers, showcasing just how impressively talented the youth of today is—and reminding us of the questionable morality that is Roblox content created via child labor. Roblox was recently banned in Turkey amid concerns over child exploitation, and in April, Roblox Studio head Stefano Corazza suggested that the game was “a gift” for “15 year olds, in Indonesia, living in the slums.”
I reached out to a few Dress to Impress devs, as well as Roblox PR, but didn’t get a response in time for publication. While I wait, you can find me trying to get on that damn podium again, paying players be damned.
In VVVVVV developer Terry Cavanagh’s new Roblox game, Anyone could be struck by lightning at any time, anyone could…
By
Mike Fahey
In VVVVVV developer Terry Cavanagh’s new Roblox game, Anyone could be struck by lightning at any time, anyone could be struck by lightning at any time. Your job is to not be. But you will. It’s inevitable.
You can jump. You can run. You can swim. You can dress up in the weird pseudo-MAGA outfit hackers were defacing Roblox player avatars with back in July of last year. None of that will help. You will get struck by lightning.
Anyone could be struck by lightning at any time is a survival game of sorts. You gather with other players on a storm-swept island in the middle of the ocean and wait for nature to take its course. Every 30 seconds or so, lightning strikes a random player. All you can do is hope that player is not you.
There’s a biggun. Screenshot: Roblox / Kotaku
If you are struck, you die, and your survival counter resets. If you survive, your counter goes up, and your avatar grows bigger. I’ve seen players survive upwards of 30 strikes, at which point they were absolutely huge. My record so far is 17.
There is nowhere to hide, no strategy to employ. It’s a completely random game of survival. There’s a glorious tension that builds as your survival number goes up, and a strange sense of relief when the lightning finally claims you. The storm sounds are nice as well.
This is the second Terry Cavanagh Roblox game I’ve played, the first being the Climb The Giant Man obstacle course. Compared to that goal-oriented jumping game, Anyone could be struck by lightning at any time is much more satisfying and unique. And probably a lot less work.
If you’d like to try Anyone could be struck by lightning at any time for yourself, hit up the Roblox game page and click play.
I’ve still never played Roblox and now I’m not sure I’ll ever play it after learning about a random, creepy clown…
By
Zack Zwiezen
I’ve still never played Roblox and now I’m not sure I’ll ever play it after learning about a random, creepy clown video that is, for some reason, lurking in the game’s files.
In Roblox, players can input the command “?Iloveyou” and with the correct server and in-game settings, it will display a short video of a man wearing a clown mask and rubbing his head.
To be clear to all you expert Roblox players, I know this discovery isn’t new, but I had no idea it was in the game. A quick Google shows other players have uploaded videos of this creepy secret and often the comments are filled with players sharing stories of the first time they saw the evil clown.
Why is it here? I have no idea. But it’s a nice reminder that you can never escape terrible, creepy clowns.
FIFA Announces Entire Range Of Nightmarish Blockchain World Cup Games
What losing EA's blockbuster series does to a motherfucker
By
Luke Plunkett
Earlier this year, EA Sports and FIFA ended a partnership that had lasted for 30 years, mostly because the irredeemably corrupt sports governing body had started making all kinds of wild demands for the rights to their name. EA walked away, and FIFA tried to pretend everything was going to be just fine. It is clearly not fine.
As we reported at the time of the split:
According to reports last October, negotiations between EA and FIFA had gotten messy. EA wanted to expand the license into areas like NFTs, while FIFA wanted to retain more control so it could partner with other companies. In the end, it seems, EA wasn’t interested in paying the $1 billion price tag that was allegedly being requested to extend existing exclusivity deal.
FIFA has been very quick to make those partnerships with “other companies,” which have already resulted in an embarrassing Roblox tie-in, but things got so much worse earlier today when FIFA blasted out a press release titled, “FIFA unveils range of new web 3.0 games ahead of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.”
The announcement, which leads with promises it’s about esports but which is really about hawking some awful crypto/metaverse shit, says four additional FIFA World Cup games are coming alongside the Roblox one, and all will feature some kind of nightmarish web 3.0 integration.
First up is AI League: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Edition, which is a “4-on-4 casual football game, played between AI-controlled characters, with player input at fun and tactical moments.” This is a common theme in web 3.0 games, because it’s much easier to design and implement. It also removes any enjoyment from the game, another hallmark of web 3.0 titles.
The second is FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in the Upland Metaverse. “Upland is the largest blockchain-based metaverse mapped to the real world,” the release says, “where players can buy and sell virtual properties. Now they can collect official FIFA World Cup digital assets, including legendary video highlights of the tournament.” I feel like I am back in March 2021.
Screenshot: Upland Metaverse
The third, Matchday Challenge: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Edition, “targets the emotional high of football fandom through a highly engaging casual social prediction game based on football cards, where the essence of the fun is derived not just from “getting it right” but by being the best among your friends.”
The fourth is FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 on Phygtl. We spent a little time debating just how that would be pronounced before I finally settled on “Fig-Tull.” It doesn’t even sound like a game, but more of a blockchain fever dream:
Phygtl [is] a fan engagement mobile application that takes fandom into a new dimension. An immersive experience fans join forces on with the mission to co-create the global first fan generate digital reward. Fans can augment a golden-globe-football from the palm of their hands into their real-life environment, own a limited fragment of it to attach and eternalize their handpicked FIFA World Cup pictures and video moments. A digital representation of eternal fandom.
It’s hard picking which is the single funniest thing from all these announcements, from the months-past-the-bubble-bursting timing of the deals to the fact nobody pitching these has any interest in actual video game design, but has got their bag from FIFA regardless.
I think the winner, though, is the fact that watching FIFA flail about like this, with no idea what the hell they’re doing, almost makes you feel bad for EA Sports. I wonder how many years they had to sit in a boardroom with morons from FIFA pitching this kind of garbage? I’m sure the answer, given their acrimonious split, is “too many.”
Roblox's New Child Safety Changes Reveal How Dangerous It's Been For Years
The new measures are welcome, but close to useless
By
John Walker
Today’s news that Roblox is adding new child safety measures to the phenomenally popular game platform is certainly good to hear, but the nature of these scant changes reveals just how careless and callous the app has been for so many years, and how it continues to offer almost no protections for children.
Bloomberg reports that Roblox Corp will be bringing in new reforms in November of 2024 that introduce new parental controls requiring permission to let under-13s access chat features, and prevent access for children under nine to specific games on the Roblox platform. Which, yes, very immediately raises the question, “Wait, Roblox didn’t already do that?”
The new plans, sent in an email to parents of children with Roblox accounts, come weeks after an investigation by research investment company Hindenburg that called the platform, with ample evidence, “a pedophile hellscape for kids.”
What this of course reveals (or confirms) is that for the last 18 years, Roblox has offered no way to prevent pre-teen children from accessing chat with complete strangers. Strangers who, as the Hindenburg report demonstrated, can sometimes be organized groups of pedophiles using Roblox to get access to children.
It also shows that Roblox has previously not seen an issue with allowing children under nine years old from being able to play games with “moderate violence or crude humor.”
For further context, it was in September of this year that Roblox Corp. decided that after nearly two decades, it might not be a good idea to allow under-fives to create their own Roblox accounts without supervision.
Since children under five are still building the cognitive skills and coordination needed to fully enjoy Roblox, you will no longer see birthday options for children younger than five when setting up an account on Roblox.
Bloomberg’s own report in July described the dangers to which Roblox was exposing its child audience, following up on reports from 2021 by People Make Games.
There are no restrictions when creating an account
Screenshot: Roblox Corp / Kotaku
So yes, thank goodness that a sliver of the 80 million daily players of Roblox will now have the most cursory protections in place. But it’s worth noting they’re close to useless, given there is nothing in place to prevent a child creating a 13+ account. In fact, it’s simpler not to.
To create a brand new Roblox account, you go to the website, click “Sign Up,” then fill in a username, password, and a date of birth. You can pick 1925 from the drop-down menu, and then with a click on “Sign Up” below, that’s it. Seriously.
There are no checks whatsoever, no email or phone number required, no verification options—it just hands you an account for a 99-year-old, with full access to all chat features. (It took maybe five clicks from having no account to being able to play Blood & Gore.) To get voice chat, you need a phone number for a verification code, but this can come to WhatsApp so it’s easily subverted. For content marked 17+, you do need to verify your age with documentation, but clearly there’s a vast amount of content without that rating that doesn’t seem at all suitable for children.
So these new features, while welcome, do nothing to prevent kids who have the sense to just scroll down and pick an earlier year of birth. Nor indeed do they help children whose parents have no interest in or awareness of parental controls. And they continue to allow anyone over the age of nine to play games that, under any other circumstances, would have teenage ratings.
Updated: 10/24/2024, 1:17 p.m. ET: Updated to include the detail that content rated 17+ requires verification.
This Time-Loop Horror Game Is Secretly One Of 2023's Best Stories
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This Time-Loop Horror Game Is Secretly One Of 2023's Best Stories
Slay the Princess never tells the same story twice, but all roads lead to an incredible finale
2K Signs Tiger Woods, Buys The Studio Behind PGA Tour 2K21
From 1998 through 2013 golf superstar Tiger Woods was the face of EA’s PGA Tour series of video games. Now Woods is…
By
Mike Fahey
From 1998 through 2013 golf superstar Tiger Woods was the face of EA’s PGA Tour series of video games. Now Woods is back in the video game business, only this time he’s signed an exclusive long-term contract with 2K as the face, executive director, and consultant on the PGA Tour 2K series. Along with the Woods deal, 2K has also acquired HB Studios, the developers behind PGA Tour 2K21.
Basically, 2K just really upped its golf game. They’ve got Tiger Woods, previously the face of EA Sports’ now-defunct golf series and the most recognizable golf player in the world. They’ve got HB Studios, the Canadian studio behind The Golf Club series as well as the very well-received PGA Tour 2K21. Looks like 2K is holding all the golf cards. Golf has cards, right? Golf should have cards.
Here is 2K’s little celebratory video, in which Tiger Woods pumps his fist and high-fives people.
It’ll be nice to see Tiger Woods back on some video game covers.
No Man's Sky Devs Working On Open-World Game Simulating Whole Planet
Light No Fire has you riding dragons and exploring a giant fantasy world
By
Ethan Gach
Hello Games is working on something completely new after spending years updating No Man’s Sky. It’s called Light No Fire and is promising a massive fantasy world players can explore together. Director Sean Murray is already promising mountains bigger than Everest.
Unlike its cosmic space exploration sim, Light No Fire is a survival role-playing game where players can adventure across an entire planet in search, of, well, we don’t know exactly. You appear to play as anthropomorphic creatures in a sort of Redwall meets The Lord of the Rings fellowship-style journey across a vast wilderness.
Here’s our first look:
Sean Murray is infamous for overpromising and under-delivering at launch, with the initial release of No Man’s Sky underwhelming many players, including by its unexpected lack of multiplayer. But years of free updates have since expanded the sci-fi survival game far beyond what any fans initially dreamed of, from mech armor to corrupted planets and more.
We don’t know when Light No Fire will arrive or on what platforms. It certainly sounds every bit as ambitious as what Hello Games was teasing players with back in No Man’s Sky’s development, trading one highly detailed planet for an entire galaxy’s worth, and adding the wrinkle of MMO-style multiplayer right from the start.
I’m intrigued even if I don’t really feel like I know what to expect from the game. Surivival sandboxes are big right now, and even a fantasy RPG version isn’t completely different from the type of game Hello Games has already spent years building. If it feels as vast and immersive as the trailer looks, however, I’m excited to eventually try it out. It will probably be a while though. Murray noted that only about 12 people are working on it at the moment.
8 Years Later, No Man's Sky Gets One Thing Every Game Needs: Fishing
Relax by the river and reel in some intergalactic lunkers in the new Aquarius update
By
Willa Rowe
No Man’s Sky, the procedurally generated space survival game filled with thousands of planets has finally added the only worthwhile endeavor — fishing. As of today, August 5, developer Hello Games has released the Aquarius update, which doesn’t just add fishing to the game but does so with incredible depth and style. It’s just the latest in a string of major and minor fixes and additions the game has seen since its less-than-stellar launch in 2016.
The Aquarius update comes off the back of July’s Worlds update which, amongst other things, made all the space sim’s water look really damn good. Now you’ll be spending a lot more time looking out over those gorgeous watery vistas. While there were a few creatures inhabiting the waters of No Man’s Sky before, you couldn’t fish for them. The reveal trailer for Aquarius shows off just how complex the new system is—the massive world is now populated with a wider variety of fish that you can catch with a rod or traps that can be set and returned to later. You’ll craft specific bait for each catch you want and when you do catch your prize, you can use it to cook new recipes. There will be some relatively normal specimens, like jellyfish, but the trailer also teases more unique varieties, such as the Magma Shark, which is exactly what it sounds like: a shark made of lava
HelloGamesTube
The Aquarius update also adds a catalog of all the game’s fish, a diving suit, and a personal fishing skiff for players. I’m also intrigued by Aquarius’s fishing expeditions, which are community competitions where you’ll try to get the biggest catch against other players.
When No Man’s Sky first released in 2016 it failed to live up to the lofty promises developer Hello Games had made prior to launch. But instead of giving up, the developer and fans stuck with it, and thanks to tons of major and minor updates over the better part of a decade, the game has transformed into one of the best space games on the market. The Aquarius update feels like a triumphant acknowledgment of how far the game has come. No Man’s Sky bringing fishing to the game adds one more pastime to the game and recognizes that after years, the world is good enough that players can just sit back and relax within it. And that’s what fishing is all about.
If you’ve never played No Man’s Sky before but the promise of fishing has piqued your interest then good news, the game is currently sixty percent off as part of Steam’s Space Exploration Fest. The sale runs until September 9.
No Man's Sky's Sean Murray Is Teasing Something And Players Think It's Big
Fans are predicting everything from a universal reset to a major Light No Fire reveal
By
Ethan Gach
Sean Murray is no stranger to hyping up expectations, and that’s exactly what he’s been doing for the last several days on social media. The boss of No Man’s Sky studio Hello Games has been posting little emoji of our planet. Fans are taking the cryptic messages and running wild with them, speculating about a potential universal reset of the galactic exploration sim or even a new look at Light No Fire, the world-spanning fantasy MMO revealed at last year’s Game Awards.
On July 12, Murray tweeted a single Earth emoji. He quote-tweeted it the next day with three more Earth emoji, each showing a different part of its rotation. Then he retweeted both tweets. On July 15 he posted three Earth emoji again. Then he posted an “I want” emote pointing at three Earth emoji before retweeting the previous tweet. This is Murray code for something. Nobody’s quite sure what, but they all think it’s going to be huge.
The Hello Games cofounder has frequently issued cryptic teases for new updates to No Man’s Sky, the multiplayer sci-fi explorer featuring millions of procedural planets that’s gone from epic disappointment to the poster child for video game redemption arcs. So naturally, many fans’ minds have turned to their wishlists of unannounced features for the game. Murray’s mentions and the No Man’s Sky subreddit are full of players theorizing.
Some wonder whether the game will finally get rotating planets or other orbital mechanics. Others are guessing it might just be additional planets with new procedural generation tech unlike anything currently in the game’s sprawling cosmos. A few have gone full doomsday, proselytizing about a possible entire universal reset of the game. All player creations would get wiped and everyone would start off in a completely new reality.
It sounds exciting, and also like a massive disruption to a longtime playerbase that has spent a not-insignificant portion of their collective existence min-maxing No Man’s Sky and building wild stuff in it. Resets have happen a few times before, but players usually get a lot of warning. That’s why most seem to think something that drastic is off the table, and that Hello Games could potentially rework core elements of the game even without doing that.
Then there’s Light No Fire, the fantasy survival game that Hello Games announced over a year ago. Murray is leading a small team of developers to create an RPG where the map is the size of Earth, because why under-promise and over-deliver when you can pitch players the moon, or something even bigger than that? “I’m convinced it’s either Light No Fire or the biggest No Man’s Sky update ever,” tweeted streamer CharOnTwitch. “Never seen Sean hype something this much before.”
Light No Fire has a Steam page but we haven’t heard anything else about it since the announcement. It’s possible Murray is psyching fans out for a new trailer or some other reveal about the game, perhaps with a deeper dive planned for Gamescom next month. August also marks the eighth anniversary of No Man’s Sky’s original launch, the perfect time to completely reinvent the game again with something entirely new. Maybe players are finally going to get those long-requested custom space stations.
Stardew Valley's 1.6 Update Confirms Years-Old Fan Theory Is True
Yep, harvesting crops in certain directions is faster than others
By
Zack Zwiezen
Some Stardew Valley fans are feeling vindicated today after the game’s creator, Eric Barone, confirmed on Twitter that harvesting crops from left to right was faster than harvesting from right to left. Apparently, this bug will finally be fixed after being in the game since its launch in 2016.
Since 2022, Stardew Valley fans have been waiting for update 1.6. And while it’s been a while, we know the big update—which is adding new content, fixing old bugs, and making the game easier to mod—will be arriving on March 19 for PC. (It will be available on consoles and phones sometime after that.) In the lead-up, Barone has been sharing patch notes and snippets of what to expect as fans count the days until 1.6 is here. And an upcoming change confirms what many players have suspected all along.
On March 12, Barone tweeted a single image showing one patch note that will be included in March 19's 1.6 update. It simply states:
Fixed bug where it was faster to harvest left-to-right than right-to-left
If you aren’t a Stardew Valley player, you might not understand what this means. Like, sure, it was faster to harvest stuff from one direction compared to another. What’s the big deal?
Well, for years and years now fans have shared videos showing this to be true, but it had never been confirmed 100% by Barone, or previous patch notes. So some fans weren’t entirely convinced it was faster and just assumed it was the animation looking different depending on how you harvested it. But nope! It really was slightly faster to harvest crops from the left to the right and it was due to a longstanding bug.
When asked if this bug has been in the game since launch, Barone said: “As far as I know, yes.” The creator behind the popular life-sim then explained why this was the case. “The left-facing harvest animation was 100ms longer than it should’ve been,” said Barone. Now harvesting from right to left will be just as fast as left to right, ending a Stardew Valley conspiracy theory that had been around for nearly a decade.
We can all sleep now knowing that soon, when 1.6 arrives on March 19, harvesting will be the same speed for all players regardless of your direction. Finally.
Rocket League Will Ban Item Trading, Nuking Market For Secondhand Skins
Psyonix says the change could lead to cross-game ownership for items in the future
By
Ethan Gach
A major shakeup is coming to Rocket League’s player community. The popular car soccer game will turn off the option to trade items starting in Season 13, destroying the vibrant market around buying and selling cosmetics in the process. Fans appear universally shocked, confused, and frustrated by the move.
The last day to trade items in the Epic-owned free-to-play game will be December 5, the day before season 13 goes live. After that, players will no longer have an option to share their favorite hats, rims, and exhaust trails with one another, or sell them on third-party marketplaces. “We’re making this change to align with Epic’s overall approach to game cosmetics and item shop policies, where items aren’t tradable, transferrable, or sellable,” developer Psyonix wrote in an announcement on the game’s website.
The studio said this shift “opens up future plans” to have some vehicles be owned across multiple Epic games. Presumably, you might buy the Ghostbusters Ectomobile once in Rocket League and then be able to use it in Fortnite as well. The ability to transfer items between seperate games is a big part of the promise and challenge underlying pitches for a gaming “metaverse” made by Epic CEO Tim Sweeney and others. At the same time, it’s not clear what the benefit of an “open” metaverse is if all the transactions are still routed through Epic’s in-game shops. Sweeney has previously blasted companies like Apple and Google for creating closed platforms that don’t offer users choice.
Item trading was added to Rocket League seven years ago in the Rumble update. The approach to random cosmetics that dropped after matches was similar to Valve games like Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2, both of which have also cultivated lively and lucrative second-hand markets for in-game items. Some Rocket League players just trade with friends for fun or to get rid of duplicate items, while others try to amass collections that can sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Lending is also a big part of the community around Rocket League’s in-game economy. Players might agree to share rare items for a set duration of time before giving them back.
In its FAQ about the changes, Psyonix stressed that players will still be able to trade their duplicate items back to Epic for a shot at another random cosmetic of a higher rarirty, but that all current trades will be final after December 5. At that time, “Websites or servers advertising such services are fraudulent and have no connection to Psyonix or Epic Games.”
The reaction by the Rocket League community so far has been surprise followed by swift condemnation. “RATIO FOR MY ALPHA BOOST,” tweeted pro player Tristan “Atow.” Soyez. “Killing the game even more good shit lads,” tweeted Finlay “rise.” Ferguson. The subreddit for the game is also in shambles. “Epic Games was supposed to be this huge thing for the game, and all they have done is increased Esports prize money and made it more global,” reads one top comment. “They have basically said ‘fuck you’ to the casual community since they bought Psyonix. Removing trading is genuinely the stupidest idea I have ever seen.”
The announcement comes after parent company Epic Games recently announced 860 layoffs, impacting Psyonix, Fall Guys maker Mediatonic, and other parts of its growing Fortnite empire. Sweeney told attendees at an Unreal Engine conference that it wasn’t until “about 10 weeks ago” that the company realized it was having financial troubles that would apparently need to be addressed so quickly and drastically. It’s not clear if Psyonix was already planning to remove item trading from the game prior to these cuts.
This tearjerker of a platformer has a few secret achievements for you to unlock
By
Billy Givens
Neva is an emotional rollercoaster of a game. It’s easy to recommend it to anyone willing to shed a tear. Though the game seems to function primarily as an allegory for pollution and protecting the planet, it can also hit particularly hard for those of us who have lost pets, as it deals with love, loss, grief, and rebirth in ways that are certain to cut you deeply if you let it. But it’s not just there to drain you. Rather, it serves as a meaningful reminder of the love and memories our companions leave behind.
As such, the game’s trophy and achievement list even asks you to complete multiple tasks related to soothing and caring for Neva, your titular wolf-like companion, throughout the game’s brief runtime. Eventually, you’ll also have the option to earn the “Memories” trophy or achievement as you begin closing out your adventure late in the game.
Unfortunately, there are no clues as to how to obtain the “Memories” trophy or achievement in Neva. You’re largely left to your own devices to figure it out. However, if you’d like to know where to go and how to get it, read on for a (mostly) spoiler-free explanation of where to find and complete this final optional task in the game.
How To Get The ‘Memories’ Trophy Or Achievement In Neva
The “Memories” trophy or achievement can be obtained in the Spring section of Neva, which is the final segment of the game. Spring consists of only one short chapter, so if you’ve already completed the game, simply reload it to start it from the beginning.
You’ll have to follow your companion around for a bit, first to the left and then to the right, as you make your way through the very linear level. Eventually, you’ll come to a broken bridge. As you cross it, you can notice a large, red tree beneath. When you’re able to drop down under the bridge, do so, then head over to the red tree.
Screenshot: Nomada Studio / Kotaku
If you stand beneath the red tree for a few moments, the camera will zoom in just a bit and Alba will begin to sing. Shortly after, you should get the notification for receiving the “Memories” trophy or achievement.
If you’ve been completing all of the other trophies or achievements throughout Neva, “Memories” will mark the final missable one on your journey. Just continue forward a bit further to reach the very end of the game. Grab a tissue.
Here Are The Games Kids Are Actually Playing In 2024
Apple has released data that shows the most popular iPhone and iPad games of the year
By
Zack Zwiezen
Apple has released lists revealing the most downloaded and popular free and paid games on iPhone and iPad. The company also shared data on the most popular Apple Arcade games. Balatro sickos might be surprised!
The end of 2024 approaches, which means we all look back at a bunch of lists and go “Wait, that was the most popular game on iPads? Really?” Yes, Apple is the latest company to provide us with some end-of-year lists to look at while we stroke our chin. It’s also an interesting glimpse at what people under the age of 19 are actually playing in 2024.
Oddly, Balatro is nowhere to be found on the lists shared by VentureBeat. However, I was able to find the popular roguelike poker game in the full top paid apps list, where it sits at number 15. Sad. But it just means even more people can discover the game next year and spend far too many hours with it. Anyway, here are the lists:
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