Roblox ends avatar-based video chat service

• Photo courtesy of Roblox

Roblox has discontinued Roblox Connect, its avatar-based video calling service, as users increasingly turn to the platform’s newer Party Voice feature for private conversations.

“Roblox Connect is being discontinued today, including both the developer-facing APIs and the Roblox Connect feature itself,” Roblox spokesperson Angela Allison told The Verge.

Allison said users aged 13 and older now predominantly use Party Voice to make private voice calls with people identified as Trusted Friends on the platform.

Roblox previously said Party Voice was more capable and better suited to how players currently communicate. Unlike Connect, the newer feature focuses on private voice conversations instead of avatar-based video calls.

Users must be at least 13 years old and have their age verified by Roblox to access Party Voice. Roblox has also shut down the developer-facing application programming interfaces associated with Connect.

Roblox launched Roblox Connect in 2023 as an avatar-based calling service with facial motion tracking. It allowed users to communicate through their Roblox avatars, which could mimic their facial expressions and movements in real time.

SOURCE: The Verge