Oof, the iconic Roblox death noise has been replaced with a way uglier sound

Roblox obby lineup
(Image credit: Roblox Corporation)

The Roblox oof. A loud, muffled cry of pain whenever your blocky little chap dies. It's an iconic sound, one that is so ingrained in my memory I'm not sure I'll ever forget it. Sadly, Roblox Corporation will have to forget it after it was forced to remove the sound from its platform.

That's because the "oof" noise wasn't actually created by anyone at Roblox. The sound originally came from an obscure 2000 action game called Messiah, created by Intellivision founder Tommy Tallarico. Its usage came to his attention in 2019, where he tweeted that he would "need to be fairly compensated" before cheekily adding: "I've never been cheap."

Tallarico and Roblox seemed to work something out, as in 2020 it was revealed that the "oof" sound would be replaced but with the iconic version still licensable for $1 or 100 robux. Tallarico also provided a handful of other sound libraries for the platform, ranging from $10 to $250. 

Now, two years later, it seems that the initial deal has come to an end. A tweet from Roblox cites "a licensing issue" as the reason behind removing the sound. It's also created a replacement sound, and wow it sure is a sound effect alright. Instead of "oof" we now have "deh," which sounds more like you've just stepped in a puddle than popped your clogs.

For a giant that's worth more than some of the biggest developers out there, it seems strange that it's not willing to cough up the dough for a simple sound effect. Whether Tallarico will license the sound effect out himself is unknown, though Roblox says it's working towards "the ability to add sounds by getting them directly from the creators and licensors."

Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.