The Stars Program is an invite-only program designed for top developers who want to grow and expand the license of their intellectual property (IP) related to their Roblox experiences to Roblox. Developers in the program will be eligible for consideration in merchandising and promotional opportunities including but not limited to;
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Licensing Deals
Opportunities for toys based on experiences, books, board games, apparel and more! -
Amazon Merch
Create merchandise based on game IP (Shirts/Hoodies/Phone Cases)
Ability to direct from Social Links on the experiences page, to the Amazon Store -
Promotions
Consideration for opportunities with Roblox and various partners (Microsoft, Prime Gaming, Google play store and more) -
Marketing
Opportunities to be featured on Roblox gamecards
Various marketing opportunities
When developers opt-in for this program for a 1-year term, which auto-renews, they are providing Roblox an exclusive right to their IP for a rolling five-year term. (If a developer leaves the program, Roblox will retain exclusivity for only the categories that were used for their experiences tied to products, and not all categories.) This enables Roblox to negotiate major promotional opportunities with long timelines related to production and sales. This potentially results in additional revenue and brand awareness for Roblox developers.
Developers on Roblox own their intellectual property (IP). For Roblox to pursue any promotional opportunities, such as toys, we need to be granted the ability to represent developers’ IP. The Stars program is designed for just that: granting Roblox an exclusive worldwide license for use of developers’ username, avatar, and any user-generated content they choose to include. Developers can include the properties they’d like to share and hold the ones they don’t. When Roblox looks to create any new promotional opportunity, we will pull content exclusively from our Stars participant list.
Royalty Information:
Selected experiences will receive royalties from a 50% pool resulting from the money received by Roblox of anything sold using Stars program IP. So if we make a toy based on your experiences, then you will receive 50% of what we receive from the toy manufacturer (and if the toy is based on multiple experiences, then the 50% will be divided among the participants). The 50% cut that Roblox takes from royalties is used to cover the costs of administering the Stars program.
Developers in the Amazon Merch program earn 100% of the revenue from each sale – after Amazon takes its share. Amazon Merch also has potential for major retailer distribution (In that case, developers earn 50% of revenue from retail sales)
By signing up, we do not guarantee that developers will be selected for any promotional opportunities, but by opting into the program, they increase their chances of being selected.
If you have any additional questions, please reach us at stars@roblox.com or see the Stars FAQ Page.
Thanks!
Developer Relations
FAQ
Q: Can I apply to join the Stars program?
A: The Stars Program is invite only. We will reach out to you if we determine your experience to be a good fit for the program!
Q: When I start to participate in the Star Program, will my participation in the DevEx program continue as before?
A: That is correct; participating in the Roblox Stars Program will not impact your participation or eligibility in the DevEx program. These are two separate programs.
Q: It states that as a Developer on Roblox, I own my intellectual property (IP). However, will I lose control of what I want to do with my creations I’ve developed if I sign into this program?
A: You still own your IP, and you completely control your experiences (as long as you follow our standard Terms of Use). The point of this program is to have Roblox represent your games as part of our licensing partnerships with toy, book, apparel, etc. companies.
Q: Does this extend to IPs created outside Roblox?
A: No, it does not. Only your IP on the Roblox platform.
Q: Can I allow other people to contract my IP if I don’t grant them exclusive rights?
A: By entering the Roblox Stars program, you are granting us exclusive rights to create physical merchandise from your IP, so you can not grant rights to any other third party companies. You are not granting the Roblox Stars program any additional digital rights beyond what is already granted to Roblox in our Terms of Use.
Q: Once I’ve finished new projects, how should I let you know so that my Stars profile can be updated?
A: As far as the agreement goes, there is no need for you to inform us of new projects, unless you want to opt them out of the program – all your new projects are automatically included as part of the program. We will reach out once in the Fall and once in the Spring to collect toy ideas, this would be an appropriate time to submit ideas for your new projects!
Q: Does the Stars Program only grant Roblox rights to my IP, or will other developers in the program be given rights?
A: The purpose of the program is to grant the rights to Roblox. We would not grant the rights to other users.
Q: If I include a experience in the addendum as excluded, will it remain excluded indefinitely?
A: Correct, it will remain excluded, even if you update the same experience.
Q: How do I opt-in IP that I previously excluded from the Program?
A: If you wish to opt-in IP you previously opted-out, please send us an email stars@roblox.com and we’ll be happy to assist!
Q: Will my PII be shared? Who gets to see my information?
A: The information that you enter on the Stars questionnaire is only available to Roblox.
Q: Can I list a YouTube video (or other off-site assets) as my creation?
A: Unfortunately, only your creations on the Roblox Platform can be included in the Roblox Stars program.
Q: Is this related to the Roblox Video Stars Program?
A: No, the Stars Program and Video Stars Program are two separate programs. For more information regarding the Video Stars Program, please see: https://en.help.roblox.com/hc/en-us/articles/360026092011-Roblox-Video-Stars-Program
Q: What does the 5 years access to IP mean? (e.g. if a user creates a new game 4 years after leaving, would Roblox own the rights to use that IP for the stars program?)
A: The Roblox Stars program only includes IP that you create while you are in the program. The 5-year clause means that we have the rights to create merchandise, and pay you royalties for that merchandise, for up to 5 years after you leave the program, but we may only use IP that was created while you were in the program.
Q: Would we be able to feature merchandise created by Roblox (i.e. toys) on our website and sell it either there or through an affiliate link?
A: Yes! Most of the toys are sold on Amazon (in addition to retailers such as Walmart, Target, etc.). You can join Amazon’s affiliate program, and promote your toys to your fan base through Amazon.
Q: What is the selection criteria to be selected for these promotional opportunities?
A: For toys, we look at various things when building out a specific toy line. The popularity of a experience/developer is definitely part of the equation, but we also consider if there are any compelling characters or vehicles, etc. that are recognizable by the community that we can pull from the experience. We also have to look at the entire line (for example, even if you have a popular pirate, we can’t make 5 pirates – we hope you can understand). We reach out to developers twice a year to collect toy ideas during the Spring and Fall.
Q: Where can I find information pertaining to Stars Payouts?
A: Please check out “Stars Payment FAQ” on the developer hub article here.