Update to Roblox Licensing Program & Brand Guidelines

[424s]

This is quite a terrible change for ROBLOX IP…

[Infinite_Visions (RoKing)]

Companies fundamentally serve to protect themselves. Why should Roblox be any different?

[AnimalBot99 (Melody)]

Not sure if this was asked/answered yet but here it goes:

I have an experience whose start place has “Roblox” in the name. We recently changed the main place’s name for RDC coming up. Would I be able to change the main experience’s name back to having “Roblox” as this was created way before June 22nd, 2022?

[Y35X (Maxatal)]

What are the limits to R6? Are we allowed to, for instance, make videos on YouTube using the R6 characters?

[zblox164 (zblox)]

It’s been a long time coming, but now I realize that anyone who chooses not to use Rthro will continue to be punished. This is just another example of being forced into using it, and clearly, nobody is enjoying it:

@Alvin_Blox

Please do not force Rthro or sweep classic bodies under the rug in the face of new users. Moving away from the core identity of classic bodies is a dangerous step. R6/R15/Rthro should stay a choice, and at least be equally represented. Remember your audience.

@darkpixlz

We’re also now cant use the Roblox IP using a R6 character, or r15 using a classic style?? Even then, we have to request for permission?

Roblox has really lost their minds when it comes to branding. None of us like rthro and probably wont use it.

@Explosivesguy2

What on earth? So are we not allowed to have a choice between Rthro and R6/R15 anymore when it comes to commercial use, despite Roblox having been incredibly clear that we are allowed to use R6 in our games for years without any consequences? Can someone clarify this for me for how we are allowed to market our games that specifically only allow the use of R6 avatars? Are we supposed to use big censor bars on everybody or something?

@TechnicalHost

Are they just actively distancing themselves from what made this platform great in the first place?

• Rthro is more or less a failure and sees next to no intentional usage aside from glitches and troll avatars
• Restricting usage of not only their logo but parts of their name too might signify a platform name change

Seriously, I don’t get it. I know this platform has been trying to modernize itself for the past couple of years, but at this point I really don’t get it. Rthro is nearly uncustomizable while REGULAR AVATARS HAVE THE FREEDOM TO MIX AND MATCH ACCESSORIES AND SHIRTS. Ironic how their slogan back in the day was “Be anything, build anything”, yet you can’t “be” anything with this body type.

And no, layered clothing is not gonna save rthro.

Edit: I’m not trying to say that rthro is completely useless; but having it overshadow (and presumably forced at some point) current and past features is just beyond me.

@hfun6

I think this is a bad change. What are we supposed to do for things like game marketing material and YouTube thumbnails? Use Rthro? This is frustrating because I (and many others) don’t like to use Rthro and this is significantly limiting our creative abilities.

@Chikironi

@mrkbx

They don’t care about us anymore.

I completely agree, ever since 2020, I’ve been thinking how they made some of the changes they had made without having a second thought. They treat older players terribly, like you already said. They are trying to erase history, and make it just modern Rthro garbage

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@Roblox

Restrictions on “Roblox” and Variants (Blox, Bloxy, etc.)

We want the IP of your experiences to be able to grow, thrive, and have their own strong recognition separate from the Roblox brand. Developers using “Roblox” naming structure in the title of their experiences have tried to grow beyond the platform only to be limited because of the inherent association and confusion with the Roblox brand. The previous guidelines generally prohibited this already, but we are clarifying this restriction in the new guidelines.

Before I edited this post I was much more critical. I still don’t understand why Blox and similar terms need to be restricted, but at least from what I understand it applies mainly to experiences.

The star program wasn’t something I was part of, but I still don’t see why it’s being removed.

This is not the direction me and many others wanted to see go forward.

[KardashianKlan (Jezzie)]

@Roblox

Since 2018, the Stars Program has been an amazing source of collaboration and we’ve loved working with creators through the years on some incredible products loved by millions! We’ve seen creators successfully building their own brands independent of Roblox and in an effort to give more power to all creators, we have made the decision to sunset the Stars Program.

We feel that the tenacity and creativity of creators today has outgrown our ability to keep up. With that, we will begin winding down the program to give creators more freedom with their IP so that they can freely build their brand however they like. We will continue to work with these creators on next steps and hope to see their continued success!

Just two quick questions!

1. Will developers in the Star Program continue to be paid for our toys?

2. Why haven’t some of us been paid quarterly as per our contract? I haven’t been paid in over a year. I reached out to the licensing team twice with no response (based on another response on this thread, I’m not alone).

[KardashianKlan (Jezzie)]

Hey, in the exact same boat. Haven’t been paid for my three toys in over a year. I contacted licensing twice with no response. Sorry to hear it’s happening to you too. I’m getting really concerned and this news isn’t good.

[SBTechh]

Hi,

I am a part of a YouTube news production team (Top Hat Mediaz) dedicated to producing shows for the Roblox platform on YouTube. Our flagship product, ‘The Roblox Live Show,’ features the Roblox logo in its logo, branding, and graphics. For this case, would we be required to change our branding to something totally out of the light of the Roblox name, and our associated advertisements and graphics? However, it is a news show about the happenings on the Roblox platform, or would we have to request permission to use the name and logo further?

[orangewarrior78]

I think you’d have to non-monetize your entire channel in order to use them.

Because from what I’ve heard, these rules only apply to things that are commercial use or anything similar to that.

If that’s not an option, then I would suggest revamping the show’s name and graphics to avoid being sued or something.

[metatablecatmaid (metatablecat)]

Guess I’m never putting a Roblox character in promotional material ever again. Roblox is shooting themselves in the foot here because this restricts how developers market their product instead of opening it up. Developers do not use Rthro to advertise their product because it looks really jarring and out of place

Screw Rthro.

[iNaurto04 (Barry_Ill)]

Why in the world would someone think this is a good idea when really it’s not. Instead of focusing on Rthro that nobody asked, why not just focus on the platform to make it friendly for indie developers. This is like potentially the end of Roblox animation community when someone tries to commission R6 and R15 animations, so in my view, prohibiting the use of “Roblox” or “Blox” in some cases is like posting “Trust no one, not even yourself” meme in a sec.

[mrkbx]

Always uglier than stitchface and a korblox leg. I never liked RTHO and i never will do so.

[SBTechh]

Yes, monetization is something we plan on so further thought into how we are going to move around this and tricky, especially as this is a monthly news show and pushing for release by the end of the month. Something like this comes out of nowhere, and with little time for us, and fellow developers…

[superbroggy]

On the Dev Stars Program side, I can sort’ve understand why the program is being shut down as there are too many large IPs under them to be properly utilized.

Though I just believe that very few people even have the appropriate skillset to manage to get their own toys out, which is why we used the program to help us. Removing that just leaves like maybe two games that have their own toy lines? (Piggy + PSX)

Secondly, why does being inside a “merch” program not merit anyone UGC access? If you just gave all Dev Stars UGC access it would certainly soften the blow and they’ve already proven themselves via making a successful game and then would allow them to merchandise over Roblox. So why not?

Thirdly, the dev stars gave a safe umbrella for how to create/merchandise brands. Now that’s gone the developers themselves have to either

1. Sell the licensing rights (potentially % or potentially flat rate (no sales %))
2. Take a huge risk and fund the toys themselves.

Or thirdly, realize your brand isn’t as large as others and just have a revenue stream cut off.
Roblox kinda is killing the potential of young developers by not giving them the tools they need. So they just get exploited by large companies to sell off their game or something like that.

[mrkbx]

I wanted to have toys based on my experience but looks like that isnt happening anymore, im unable to get a partnership with some toy company as a solo dev because who actually would like to buy that? My game isnt as big as piggy or PSX.

[SelDraken]

I have to agree, with @OutlookG as a solo developer myself, the Stars Program, with the ability for Roblox to create some merch and toys for my experience, has really helped me be able to do this as my sole source of income.

Are there any plans to for new services that can help individual developers in regards to merch and income?

[superbroggy]

@mrkbx

I wanted to have toys based on my experience but looks like that isnt happening anymore, im unable to get a partnership with some toy company as a solo dev because who actually would like to buy that?

I’m a solo dev too, and all I can say is good luck lol.
That’s kinda why Roblox used the toy mystery boxes, to advertise the “smaller” devs

[mrkbx]

Now i’ll have to suffer like always because roblox is always favoritizing the big fish, while treating small passionate devs like garbage.

[GazilionGrandGadgets (Gaz)]

As for R#b#ox and Bl#x no longer being allowed in game titles, will this eventually apply to future group names? Because I also feel many users owning groups having B##x in their names may accidentally make a new group experience that has the group name in them without knowing that it contained Bl#x (myself included!).

Confusing is an understatement.

[SBTechh]

I think this also wraps into the new ideologies involved with advertising and marketing. Respectfully, a healthy mix of genders, races, etc are now to be involved whenever using Rthro characters, but the original beauty of Roblox was that the original R6 blocky avatar wasn’t any race or gender, it was ambiguous to what the user wanted to appear as, and it wasn’t humanoid because it was merely in the appearance of a plastic character. If they wanted to be some cool unique creation, then they could do that. The push of Rthro also removes any uniqueness and identity to people’s avatars, especially if they continue to be forced the way they are.