After being down for more than 60 hours, the massively popular game building platform Roblox is finally (yet slowly) coming back online.
The past two days have been tough on fans of the online platform Roblox, but things are finally starting to look up.
No, Roblox is not shutting down and no, at this stage it does not appear to be a hack, rather an internal issue that caused the unprecedented outage.
At 6:59am today, Roblox’s official Twitter account shared an update regarding its unexpected outage:
“Quick update as we work to get things back to normal. We are incrementally bringing regions back online.”
It comes after the 3D virtual world creator and its website suddenly went offline on Thursday evening (October 28). Many were quick to attribute it to a deal that Roblox made with Mexican fast-food chain, Chipotle, that amounted to $1 million USD in free product.
According to PR Newswire, the company’s collaboration with Roblox consisted of a virtual restaurant that players could visit for the chance to score “an offer code for a free burrito, dress up in new Chipotle-inspired costumes, and navigate the Chipotle Boorito Maze to unlock exclusive virtual items upon reaching its center”.
A live look at Roblox HQ:#Roblox #RobloxDown pic.twitter.com/DU8mSKic7c
— Bloxy News (@Bloxy_News) October 29, 2021
However, it was confirmed via a tweet that this was not the case. Rather than being “related to any specific experiences or partnerships on the platform”, the company believes the outage was a result of “an underlying internal cause”.
“We’re in the process of performing the necessary engineering and maintenance work to get Roblox back up and running ASAP. Thanks for your patience,” Roblox tweeted.
We have identified root cause and solution. We are working on getting things back online and we will keep you updated throughout the day.
— Roblox (@Roblox) October 31, 2021
As of this morning, the official Roblox website appears to be running for Australia but, the message, “We are incrementally opening to groups of players and will continue rolling out”, is still visible above the login field.
Roblox has quickly become one of the biggest online gaming experiences in the world. It’s free to download and play, and its accessibility attracts “more than 200 million active users monthly”. A significant portion of these players are children.
The platform allows people to design and publish their own virtual games and events – ranging from Squid Game re-enactments to virtual concerts featuring hip-hop stars Lil Nas X and Twenty One Pilots.
