Shares of Roblox sank to their lowest level in 18 months on Friday after the company cut its annual bookings forecast, raising concerns that new safety measures could suppress user growth for several quarters.

The videogame platform warned of “continued short-term friction” from new product changes, including age-based accounts, age verification and expanded content monitoring, which have restricted communication and slowed user acquisition.

The company now expects full-year bookings of $7.33 billion-$7.6 billion, down from the $8.28 billion-$8.55 billion it previously forecast.

Net bookings are generated from in-game purchases of Roblox’s virtual currency “Robucks”.

“The magnitude of the guidance cut suggests limited visibility, making it difficult for us to gain confidence that the forecast is conservative,” Jefferies analysts said.

Shares of Roblox fell 19% to $45.07, with the company set to lose more than $7 billion of its $39.55 billion market valuation if the losses continue. The stock is down about 32% this year after seeing a 40% gain last year.

The platform is off to a strong 2025, driven by forecast upgrades and viral hits that led to growing engagement, with daily active users topping 100 million.

The product change comes after multiple investigations into Roblox regarding child safety and harmful content, including concerns about inappropriate interactions and exposure risks for younger users.

Roblox’s reliance on user-generated content makes security more complex and expensive. Other gaming platforms, with older user bases, face less pressure to implement similar measures.

The company’s management on Thursday predicted that its age-verification technology would be adopted by others in the “gaming, social media and AI chatbot spaces,” signaling industry-wide changes.

Meta faces similar child-safety concerns that have prompted legal investigations and bans in some markets.

Analysts also flagged growing competition from Fortnite to Roblox and the expected November release of Take-Two Interactive’s “Grand Theft Auto VI” that could bring in billions in revenue.

“Any success TTWO had prior to GTA VI could be erased after the release of GTA VI and therefore lead to further headwinds for booking growth in ’27,” said DA Davidson analyst Wyatt Swanson.

Multiplayer “Fortnite” returned to Google’s App Store worldwide in March, ending a long-running dispute between Epic Games and the company.