Roblox expands in Middle East with Arabic support and creator economy growth


Dana Alomar
  • English
  • Arabic

Gaming platform Roblox is making a significant push into the Middle East with the launch of Arabic-language support, a move designed to make it more accessible to millions of users in the region.

The announcement, made on the sidelines of the World Governments Summit in Dubai, is part of Roblox’s broader strategy to expand globally amid a boom in the creator economy.

Speaking to The National at the event, Roblox chief executive David Baszucki described the initiative as a major step in bridging cultural and linguistic gaps.

“We feel it's so big. We want to really bring people together around the world. Our mission is to connect the world with optimism and civility,” Mr Baszucki said.

With the new language update, users and parents can now interact with the app in Arabic, making it more inclusive for a wider audience.

“Parents who might even want to play with their [children] on our platform can use our Roblox app in either English or Arabic,” Mr Baszucki explained.

Beyond accessibility, Roblox is actively investing in local content creation and digital entrepreneurship.

Every image on our platform, every communication goes through AI systems
Roblox chief executive David Baszucki

The company reported that from 2021 to September last year, its impact on the gross domestic product of the Mena region (including the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco and Qatar) was $15 million. With projected growth of 20 per cent or more next year, the platform aims to expand economic opportunities for creators in the region.

“One could infer more and more people making a living on our platform, literally people who are part of this digital economy, and we think it's growing very rapidly,” Mr Baszucki said.

Roblox’s creator ecosystem has more than 50,000 developers in the UAE alone. Some of these creators have already achieved financial success.

“We have a clothing designer in the UAE who has done over $30 million in sales of clothing on Roblox. We have a coder in Roblox who's working on an experience that's been visited over a billion times,” he revealed.

In a key development for UAE users, Mr Baszucki also confirmed that Roblox is now accessible in the country without the need for a VPN, indicating wider availability and acceptance in the region.

“I was playing with Roblox in my hotel room just locally, complimenting the internet speed of UAE,” he said.

The platform also offers more than just gaming, with digital experiences covering 3D shopping environments, educational simulations and virtual concerts. Last year, Roblox generated more than $4 billion in revenue, Mr Baszucki said.

“What we see happening on Roblox is, sometimes, for young people it's more interesting to build a game than to learn computer science, but when people build games on Roblox, they're actually learning computer science,” he said.

AI-powered content moderation

As user-generated content expands, Roblox is strengthening its AI-driven safety tools.

“Behind the scenes, over the last four years, we developed over 200 AI models that power all of our safety systems, complemented with great humans doing it as well. Every image on our platform, every communication goes through AI systems,” Mr Baszucki said.

One of Roblox’s most notable advancements is its AI-powered voice moderation tool, which has been open-sourced for wider industry use.

“Our voice model that we've trained ourselves, built ourselves, to keep voice safe on the platform … we've open-sourced it, and over 20,000 people are using it,” he said.

Additionally, Roblox has joined the Roost Consortium, partnering with major tech companies like Google and OpenAI to further develop AI-powered moderation tools.

Looking ahead, generative AI will play a larger role in enhancing experiences on the platform.

“So you'll be able to build a Roblox place, prompt AI to bring to life a famous character, and you and I will be able to learn history from that character,” Mr Baszucki said.

Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Champions League Last 16

 Red Bull Salzburg (AUT) v Bayern Munich (GER) 

Sporting Lisbon (POR) v Manchester City (ENG) 

Benfica (POR) v Ajax (NED) 

Chelsea (ENG) v Lille (FRA) 

Atletico Madrid (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG) 

Villarreal (ESP) v Juventus (ITA) 

Inter Milan (ITA) v Liverpool (ENG) 

Paris Saint-Germain v Real Madrid (ESP)  

Dubai World Cup nominations

UAE: Thunder Snow/Saeed bin Suroor (trainer), North America/Satish Seemar, Drafted/Doug Watson, New Trails/Ahmad bin Harmash, Capezzano, Gronkowski, Axelrod, all trained by Salem bin Ghadayer

USA: Seeking The Soul/Dallas Stewart, Imperial Hunt/Luis Carvajal Jr, Audible/Todd Pletcher, Roy H/Peter Miller, Yoshida/William Mott, Promises Fulfilled/Dale Romans, Gunnevera/Antonio Sano, XY Jet/Jorge Navarro, Pavel/Doug O’Neill, Switzerland/Steve Asmussen.

Japan: Matera Sky/Hideyuki Mori, KT Brace/Haruki Sugiyama. Bahrain: Nine Below Zero/Fawzi Nass. Ireland: Tato Key/David Marnane. Hong Kong: Fight Hero/Me Tsui. South Korea: Dolkong/Simon Foster.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'My Son'

Director: Christian Carion

Starring: James McAvoy, Claire Foy, Tom Cullen, Gary Lewis

Rating: 2/5

Libya's Gold

UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves. 

The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.

Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.

Rocketman

Director: Dexter Fletcher

Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars 

Results

5pm: Warsan Lake – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (Turf) 2,200m; Winner: Dhaw Al Reef, Sam Hitchcott (jockey), Abdallah Al Hammadi (trainer) 

5.30pm: Al Quadra Lake – Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Mrouwah Al Gharbia, Sando Paiva, Abubakar Daud 

6pm: Hatta Lake – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: AF Yatroq, George Buckell, Ernst Oertel 

6.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Ashton Tourettes, Adries de Vries, Ibrahim Aseel 

7pm: Abu Dhabi Championship – Listed (PA) Dh180,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Bahar Muscat, Antonio Fresu, Ibrahim Al Hadhrami 

7.30pm: Zakher Lake – Rated Conditions (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Alfareeq, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.  

Superliminal%20
%3Cp%3EDeveloper%3A%20Pillow%20Castle%20Games%0D%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Pillow%20Castle%20Games%0D%3Cbr%3EConsole%3A%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20Xbox%20Series%20One%20%26amp%3B%20X%2FS%2C%20Nintendo%20Switch%2C%20PC%20and%20Mac%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Squid Game season two

Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk 

Stars:  Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun

Rating: 4.5/5

Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
​​​​​​​Penguin Press

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

MATCH INFO

Chelsea 0

Liverpool 2 (Mane 50', 54')

Red card: Andreas Christensen (Chelsea)

Man of the match: Sadio Mane (Liverpool)

Match info:

Portugal 1
Ronaldo (4')

Morocco 0

MEDIEVIL%20(1998)
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20SCE%20Studio%20Cambridge%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sony%20Computer%20Entertainment%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsole%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PlayStation%2C%20PlayStation%204%20and%205%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Updated: February 13, 2025, 4:35 AM