Here’s a stat that might shock anyone who isn’t the parent of a Gen Alpha kid: As of October 2025, online gaming platform Roblox boasted more than 151 million global daily active users.
For perspective, that’s more than the number of people with a Disney+ subscription, more than those with an HBO Max subscription, and roughly half the number of Netflix’s global customers.
While Hollywood giants aren’t necessarily looking for Roblox users to stop spending Robux and instead use their parents’ money to start signing up for streaming subscriptions, they are taking note of these staggering numbers and recognizing the value in collaborating with Roblox and online gaming powerhouse Fortnite (currently averaging between 30 million and 40 million daily users).
To date, for example, Netflix has unleashed “Squid Game,” “KPop Demon Hunters” and “Stranger Things” in Roblox and Fortnite. Mattel’s Barbie is currently lounging in multiple digital iterations of dream house in Roblox. And everyone’s favorite toon family, The Simpsons, were recently battling their way through Fortnite, a massive collab that stems from Disney’s ties to the game through a $1.5 billion stake made in Fortnite owner Epic Games in 2024.
Despite the risks involved, most entertainment companies are trying something on these platforms, for better or worse, and seeing what sticks.
“It’s a huge, huge opportunity,” Rahul Gautam, EY’s global technology, media and entertainment and telecommunications consulting leader, told Variety. Roblox and Epic Game’s Fortnite in particular “have set a foundation that is eye-opening for IP holders in a way that they both can’t avoid it but also see enormous opportunity for brand extension, for brand engagement, for the development of new IP that may be shoulder IP or adjacent IP that can exist in those worlds. And then, just obviously, from an interesting exposure standpoint, there are few platforms more effective than these online multiplayer environments that are just ubiquitous across generations and geographies.”
Ashray Urs, head of live streaming and content creation software company Streamlabs, says the value here is difficult to measure by current standards.
“When you think about the kinds of engagement metrics that people traditionally look at, you’re thinking about things like clicks,” Urs says. “How do you weigh that against someone spending 30 minutes exploring your branded world, where every aspect of that is something that you’ve defined, from the music to the visual aesthetic to the actual mechanics and the things you’re interacting with there?”
Immersive game platforms, Urs says, opens up “a very deep level of connection, and that’s why brands have been quick to embrace it.”
“As brands at the same time are figuring out how to work with creators, and they’re figuring out how to explore this space as well, we’re going to see this very interesting convergence,” he says. “And we already see it with some of the top Fortnite streamers really opening up their own studios that are able to build these experiences, both directly for themselves, to create experiences for players, but also partnering with brands to build their worlds. And I think when we look at the amount of revenue that’s being generated by some of these platforms — Roblox just sharing that it paid creators a billion dollars in revenue this year, and Fortnite is probably approaching a billion dollars in total since they kicked things off — there’s serious money that’s being moved across these platforms.”
The issue entertainment brands have in navigating Roblox and Fortnite is not very different from the problem they had cracking YouTube 15 years ago, according to a source who works with Hollywood studios and consumer brands developing content for the UGC platforms. “Brands saw YouTube, they didn’t know how to approach YouTube, but they knew that they need to be there,” the source says, adding: “It’s the same now. Unless you are AARP, your brand needs to be on Roblox.”
Securing fans of the brands (a.k.a. future customers) on these platforms is essential, even as security itself is a key concern. Notably, a number of recent lawsuits filed against Roblox have accused the platform of facilitating predatory behavior and the company is also the target of one wrongful death suit. There have also been mounting petitions and protests led by parent groups advocating for child safety.
But the risk is one Gautam says IP holders are willing to take. “Eyes wide open, they are still moving into that space because they’re hoping for, and I think in many respects, they’re feeling like they’re making some progress in having productive dialog around what those guardrails need to be, and what the art of the possible is if, in fact, they can get to a place where both sides agree on those guardrails,” he says.
This month, Roblox began enforcing its rollout of facial age checks as a requirement for all users who want to access communication features in select markets, including Australia, the Netherlands and New Zealand. The gaming platform has also implemented age-based chats to limit communication between minors and adults. The requirements are set to expand to the U.S. and other remaining markets where Roblox’s chat rooms are available by early January 2026.
But some say it’s not enough.
“They landed on age verification, because that’s basically saying, ‘Hey, we’re not responsible in case they’re mature enough, old enough,’ and that’s something that they’re trying to do here,” says Ron Kerbs, CEO at Kidas, an AI-powered platform focused on child online safety. “And in some sense, for older gamers, unless it’s a scam, older gamers can deal with those situations by themselves. And the issue is basically the ability of younger players to cheat those systems — to pretend to be older, to use the older siblings, to use facial identity to get into those systems. And we know that it’s happening on TikTok, we know that it’s happening on gaming platforms on Roblox. Platforms are trying to block kids, and kids are going to find ways to open it up.”
The increased safety push, which Roblox has said has been in the works for some time and is not in direct response to recent lawsuits about past incidents, comes as Roblox has opened up its licensing management platform to brands beyond public launch partners Netflix, Lionsgate, Sega and Japanese publishing giant Kodansha. (The offering is meant to streamline the process for IP rights holders to partner with Roblox creators, giving companies control over — and revenue tied to — what was previously often unauthorized user-generated content.) And brands that partner with Roblox right now know they are doing so amid criticism from some consumers, and promises from Roblox that things have changed.
“My kids are still on Roblox, and grow up through Roblox. My 8-year-old son is an avid fan of the Roblox platform, and so I’m invested in making sure that safety is both paramount to us and paramount to Roblox,” Marcus Liassides, Mattel’s senior VP and global head of digital, told Variety in October when the toy brand announced new partnerships with Roblox and Fortnite.
Mattel has “an 80-year history in protecting children and safety for our fans, and so that will translate into these creative platforms and everything that we do in a digital sense,” says Liassides. “So we spend a lot of time with the Roblox team. We spent time understanding their plans, both things they’ve announced, and things that they’re working on, and whilst we respect and understand the concerns there, we feel that they’re taking it very seriously. They’re being proactive and that won’t let up. It’s a very important endeavor for both them and us to make sure that all of our fans and other players on the platforms are safe, and we feel confident that they’re on the right track to do that.”
The source who works closely with studios to create content for UGC platforms notes that the safety issues Roblox is dealing with are more of an “internet problem,” faced by YouTube, TikTok and more large-scale platforms with social community components.
“Roblox, Fortnite, even though we categorize them as gaming, because that’s what you go in and do, they’re in reality, more community than gaming,” the source says. “They are community and social media and interaction. You are there as yourself. You’re engaging with a lot of people, and the activity that you perform is gaming, but it’s not gaming as it used to be known typically, where I’m going to go play a little ‘Call of Duty’ and then I go back to doing my homework. And when you get 150 million people together, there’s going to be bad actors. Now, I’m not saying this to justify that Roblox should not be doing more, but YouTube should be doing more, too, and TikTok should, everyone should be doing more. And none of these companies do more out of their own kind hearts. They need to be pushed into doing more.”
A spokesperson for Roblox tells Variety the company engages “regularly with our partners to provide visibility into platform-wide updates and ongoing investments in safety advancements.” The company rep adds: “We have rigorous safety measures in place from advanced AI models to an expertly trained team of thousands moderating our platform 24/7 for inappropriate content.”
While the younger-skewing Roblox is both the bigger priority for brands and the bigger safety concern, according to multiple sources Variety spoke with, breaking through on the Disney-backed Fortnite is also a top goal for Hollywood players (most recently filmmaker Quentin Tarantino).
Over the past few years, Fortnite has executed collaborations with Warner Bros. for “Superman,” as well as “Scooby-Doo” for its Fortnitemares in-game event, NBCUniversal and Blumhouse for “Black Phone 2,” AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” Netflix for “Stranger Things” and “Wednesday,” Legendary for “Dune,” “Godzilla” and “Kong,” Lionsgate for “Kill Bill” and “John Wick,” and Sony Pictures for “Spiderman No Way Home.”
“We work closely with our partners to shape experiences that feel genuine to players,” Epic Games senior VP of global partnerships and monetization Nate Nanzer says. “These collaborations bring their IP, music, and stories into the game, making Fortnite an extension of their world that players can step inside.”
Like Roblox, Fortnite also has a growing IP licensing program that allows Fortnite developers to (legally) make their own in-game content with brands including Lego, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” “Squid Game,” “The Walking Dead” and “KPop Demon Hunters,” and forthcoming offerings tied to “Avatar: The Last Air Bender” and Star Wars. Warner Bros. is a big example of a studio who has taken to partnering with Fortnite creators to launch their films, including “Sinners’ in 2024, and this year’s “Weapons” and “One Battle After Another.”
While many of these studios and streamers are experimenting on both platforms, for Disney, Fortnite is the only option and it’s making good use of the deal: According to Epic Games, the recent “The Simpsons” in-game collaboration brought in more new and returning Fortnite players in 48 hours than the game’s holiday season last year, the Fortnite-Simpsons animated short rose to No. 1 on Disney+’s daily top 10 list, and more than 53 million players dropped into Fortnite’s Springfield in the first two weeks of the Fortnite event.
Despite the popularity of Roblox in comparison to Fortnite and regardless of the fact much of Disney’s IP is targeted at the Roblox-aged demo, Variety has confirmed Disney does not have a formal presence on Roblox and is not partnered in any official capacity with Roblox for games or IP licensing. Sources have told Variety this is not just because of Disney’s revenue tied to Epic, but because Disney does not think Roblox is a safe platform at this time.
But it is Roblox’s desire to appeal to as many brands as possible that could force the safety issue to its furthest point.
“By partnering with the brands, that’s gonna get them to a more open, transparent place,” Kidas’ Kerbs says. “A lot of those brands don’t want to be associated with platforms that have scammers, online predators, people who are harassing other players on their platforms. They don’t want to be associated with that. So they are strictly going to tell them, unless you take those people off the platform, we are not going to partner with you.”
Of course holding strong on that line will tough, as brands know they need to be on these platforms — if only they can figure out exactly how to be there in a way that seems natural and organic. An age-old problem for marketers that’s only getting more difficult when dealing with Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s life-long access to tech.
“I think it’s part of a trend of authenticity. It’s a trend of being in contact with that community that values authenticity,” Incode Technologies CEO and founder Ricardo Amper says. “And of course, it’s also the popularity. But I think as we go forward, there’s some questions of, how should they allow people to have different identities? Should they allow people to have very human looking avatars or changing your name, and should actual agents be part of it? And I think that’s a question that, in some cases, is going to expand their business, and in some other cases will dilute the business. And in order for a platform to be authentic, there has to be a way without breaking privacy and while respecting people’s consents, to be able to make sure that there’s no gaming around the usage of that, which there’s always been.”
