Roblox Players Will Soon Have To Pay For The 'Oof'

Roblox players will soon have to pay for the “oof” soundbite which is played during a character’s death in the immensely popular online game.

Roblox image — Credit: Roblox Corporation

The “oof,” which is a brief one-second-long soundbite, originated from the PC video game Messiah in 2000, though it was originally created pre-Messiah in September 1999.

The soundbite in question was created by developer and sound producer Tommy Tallarico, and has since become a pretty common sound used across platforms including YouTube and Twitch.

Tallarico is now the Chief Executive of Intellivision Entertainment, which is currently working on the retro-inspired Intellivision Amico console aiming to release April 15^th, 2021.

Before Tallarico was made aware of the soundbite he created, he told BBC: “I would hear kids saying it on playgrounds and didn’t even realize that they were repeating something I had created over two decades ago.”

However when Tallarico was made aware last year that the sound he had heard children referring to was in fact the same sound he created, which was being used in Roblox without his consent, so he contacted the Roblox Corporation.

Upon speaking to the developers of Roblox and coming to a mutual resolution the “oof” soundbite was then temporarily removed from the game following the copyright dispute.

The “oof” soundbite will return in the very near future, however it will come at a cost of 100 in-game ‘Robux’ currency, which works out to be about 76p/$1.

As the “oof” soundbite is the exact same sound effect taken from Messiah, Tallarico will also receive compensation from the Roblox Corporation.

Under the settlement for the copyright dispute, Tallarico will also be developing a sound effect kit for Roblox, which can be used by players with prices ranging from $10 to $250.

Even though Tommy Tallarico is well within his rights to make the copyright claim on the sound effect that he created, it’s definitely an interesting scenario. Be sure to let us know your feelings on this dispute by reacting to our Emoji’s below.

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Featured Image Credit: Roblox