December 11, 2025

Game Over for Roblox?


Game Over for Roblox?
Children playing Roblox in front of a television. Henry Burrows, Wikimedia Commons.

On December 3, Russia officially banned the online video game Roblox, one of the world's most popular games for kids, for "propagating materials of extremist tendencies and LGBT propaganda themes."

Roblox is Russia's most downloaded game, with over 10 million people installing it on their devices. It's estimated that 7 million people played the video game every day in Russia. On the platform, gamers create their own game or join one of the tens of millions of existing rooms available. Roblox is known for being a social game where players can chat with each other in groups or privately, and even engage in voice conversations.

On December 3, Russian users started reporting that Roblox was not working. Later that day, Roskomnadzor confirmed the gaming platform had been blocked in Russia. A representative of the government agency said, "The gaming space contains a large amount of inappropriate content that can negatively impact the spiritual and moral development of children, creating conditions and preconditions for illegal activities."

Roblox has faced international backlash over concerns about cyberbullying and children's safety against groomers. The game has also faced criticism for containing material inappropriate for young audiences. Turkey, Qatar, and Iraq have blocked access to Roblox in their territories over this issue.

Roblox has become a public square, thus drawing the government's attention. Kids have attended pro-Palestinian and anti-ICE protests on the platform. There is a game within Roblox that deals with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. China blocked the game, saying it propagated "anti-Communist propaganda."

After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, gaming companies such as Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft left the country's market. However, Roblox continued to operate in Russia. In July, Roskomnadzor had ordered the American company to restrict games that contained "LGBT" in their name and remove queer characters. Roblox complied

Russian gamers didn't stay silent. Shortly after the ban was announced, the hashtag #vernitieroblox ("bring back Roblox") trended across Russian social media. Petitions calling for Roskomnadzor to restore access to the game have widely circulated online. Gamers have complained that they lost money on recent in-game purchases they had made on Roblox. Other users have claimed to have "psychological damage" due to the game's ban.

Roblox can still be accessed using a VPN. However, the banned Russian media outlet Meduza warned that children could be vulnerable to scammers who offer them alternatives to the game.

You Might Also Like

Dial-a-Putin
  • December 07, 2025

Dial-a-Putin

Russian citizens are invited to submit questions for 2025's "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin" television program.
Property Lost, Entry Denied
  • December 02, 2025

Property Lost, Entry Denied

Thousands of Ukrainians are having their homes in Mariupol stolen from them by the Russian state.
Pigeon-Drones are Here
  • December 04, 2025

Pigeon-Drones are Here

A Russian company introduced biodrones: pigeons with chip implants in their brains and surveillance cameras.
A Pretty Penny to Park
  • November 30, 2025

A Pretty Penny to Park

Across Russia, the prices of parking spots are rising faster than the prices of housing.
Last Setos of Russia
  • November 27, 2025

Last Setos of Russia

An ancient borderland culture struggles as its last villages empty out.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka
November 01, 2012

Davai! The Russians and Their Vodka

In this comprehensive, quixotic and addictive book, Edwin Trommelen explores all facets of the Russian obsession with vodka. Peering chiefly through the lenses of history and literature, Trommelen offers up an appropriately complex, rich and bittersweet portrait, based on great respect for Russian culture.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

Fish
February 01, 2010

Fish

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.

Murder at the Dacha
July 01, 2013

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

Marooned in Moscow
May 01, 2011

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.

Little Golden Calf
February 01, 2010

Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.

About Us

Russian Life is the 31-year-old publication of an award-winning publishing house that also creates books, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955