At the gaming giant's annual Developers Conference today (Sept. 8), Roblox announced that a new in-game "calling" feature will be available for users by the end of the year.

The new Roblox Connect feature will enable a user to call someone from within the Roblox app, as long as that person is their friend on Roblox and has the Roblox app downloaded to their phone. The Roblox Connect request will display on the friend's phone just like a phone call. When the recipient answers, they'll join the caller in the Roblox app for a conversation with the caller's avatar.

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Roblox Connect will leverage new facial animation capabilities (announced last month) to make avatars appear more lifelike. Roblox shared in a press release today that, "behind the scenes, we’re essentially packaging a Hollywood-style motion capture studio into something that runs on a mobile phone or laptop—without the need for equipment or motion-tracking dots."

A Roblox Connect call notification will appear on a mobile phone much like a phone call. Credit: Roblox

Roblox says that they hope the feature will enable families and friends to more easily communicate with each other, citing an example of one mom who got an important message to her daughter by jumping into the game with her. The platform also sees potential for the feature to bring musicians avatar-to-avatar with their fans.

Roblox Connect will be available to age-verified users 13 and over by the end of 2023.