Roblox’s new ‘oof’ sound is a big oof

Roblox has gotten rid of the iconic “oof” sound your character makes when dying (that even I, as an adult, can find some semblance of joy in). In a thread on Twitter (via Kotaku), Roblox explains it removed the sound “due to a licensing issue” and replaced it with a new noise that, in my opinion, sounds weird as hell.

Roblox has had problems with the “oof” sound before. As Kotaku points out, Intellivision founder Tommy Tallarico originally created the noise for a 2000 game called Messiah. Tallarico took issue with the fact Roblox was using the noise, and in 2020, Roblox started charging creators $1 (or 100 Robux) to include the sound in their games to settle the dispute. It’s unclear what led Roblox to remove the sound entirely, though. Roblox didn’t respond to The Verge’s request for comment.

You can listen to the new death sound in the video embedded below, and it’s definitely not the meme-worthy noise the “oof” once was (and still is). Roblox could’ve at least tried to make the new noise sound somewhat similar to the old one, but instead, it replaced it with some sort of guttural grunt.

When my character falls off of the map in Speed Run 4, I don’t want to feel like I legitimately killed my character... I just want him to sound like he stubbed his toe or something. This new noise makes me feel as though I’m standing over my character’s deathbed witnessing his last breath.