Roblox is making a refined however notable change. After swapping the phrase “sport” for “expertise” throughout its web site and cellular apps in 2021 whereas the Epic Video games v. Apple trial was happening, Roblox is getting extra comfy with utilizing the time period “video games” as soon as once more.
“Over time, we’ve realized that ‘experiences’ isn’t an intuitive time period for a lot of mother and father, older gamers, and sport builders,” Roblox spokesperson Juliet Chaitin-Lefcourt tells The Verge. “‘Video games’ is clearer and higher displays what Roblox is and the place we’re going.”
One of many Epic v. Apple trial’s main factors was making an attempt to outline what a sport is. Roblox sits in a little bit of a center floor: whereas the app itself shouldn’t be a sport, it permits customers to create gamelike experiences that different customers can work together with. Through the trial, an Apple government testified that Roblox shouldn’t be seen as a sport, which was really type of a giant deal; if Roblox was seen as a sport by Apple, it could have needed to adhere to guidelines that might have made sustaining its iOS app prohibitively troublesome.
Because the trial went on, although, Roblox shifted from utilizing the time period “video games” to “experiences.” The excellence between the 2 was type of a giant deal on the time; firms like Roblox and Epic had been making an attempt to characterize their platforms as metaverses, and Roblox informed The Verge that the time period “experiences” higher represents “the big selection of 3D immersive locations” on the platform. It might even have been a transfer to attempt to guarantee that the app wouldn’t be seen as a sport by Apple.
Roblox hasn’t fully moved on from the time period “experiences.” Its App Retailer description nonetheless primarily options the time period. However Roblox’s homepage is displaying me a bit for “standout video games,” and a Roblox web site for builders I discovered incorporates a bunch of cases of the phrase “video games.”
It’s not the one notable language shift from Roblox as of late; the corporate renamed “associates” to “connections” in 2025, however now it’s switched again to associates, too.
