Roblox Weekly: June 25–July 1, 2023
An early look at the future of Roblox Groups, the discontinuation of Roblox toys, and how Microsoft almost bought Roblox?
Welcome to Roblox Weekly, a newsletter series covering the latest and greatest news, announcements, and events that happen on the Roblox platform. Let’s recap everything that happened for the week of June 25–July 1, 2023…
The Future of Roblox Groups: Organizations
Roblox is working on revamping the Groups feature from the ground up. Coming soon, “Organizations” will allow for deeper collaboration permissions, revenue, and team management on the platform. The release for Organizations is slated for Late 2023, however launch windows shown on the Creator Roadmap are subject to change. Check out more information in the Blog post below:
Saying Goodbye to Roblox Toys
1 year ago, Roblox sunset the Stars Licensing program, a way for developers who wished to have their intellectual property (IP) turned into real life merchandise, including Toys. Since then, creators have not had a way to partner directly with Roblox to make official toys for their experiences. After a year of speculation, it seems as if Jazwares has discontinued the official Roblox toy line. Within the past few days of writing this Blog post, the official Roblox toys landing page has been taken offline, and Roblox has been removed from the ‘Brands’ list on the official Jazwares website. Although there is no official confirmation, it is safe to assume that production of official Roblox toys has sadly come to an end. Check out more information in the Blog post below:
An Update on Buying Limiteds In-Experience
About a month ago, Roblox temporarily disabled the ability to configure the Sale location (Experience by Place ID) when creating a new Limited avatar item due to an exploit that was discovered. A few weeks ago, Roblox announced that they have found the cause of the issue and will be deploying a fix for it “in the coming weeks.” However, this week, they made another announcement stating that there has been a slight delay to the rollout of this update, and we can expect it “soon.”
Microsoft Buys Roblox?
Have you ever had the thought of Roblox being bought out by a mega corporation? What if I told you that it actually almost happened. Before it settled on trying to buy Activision-Blizzard for $68.7 billion in 2022, Microsoft had over 100 gaming companies on its list for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) consideration, including Roblox Corporation. Read more on how this almost happened in the Blog post below:
Memory Store Observability Dashboard
With the new Memory Stores observability dashboard, Roblox Creators can track the memory usage pattern of an experience, view the current allocated quotas, monitor the API status, and identify potential issues for performance optimization.
Roblox to Update Terms of Use
Effective August 1, 2023, Roblox will be updating their Terms of Use. Here’s a high-level summary of the changes being made:
User Terms
- We have created additional subsections and headings to make the Roblox Terms easier to read and understand.
- We have enumerated a list of “Additional Terms” that cover various functions on the Roblox platform and, depending on your use of Roblox, may apply to you.
- We have articulated certain actions which are expressly prohibited on Roblox so you know what you can and cannot do on the Services.
We have updated certain intellectual property rights for both Roblox and Creators. - We have updated the process by which disputes between you and Roblox will be addressed and resolved.
- We have added a section to address Parental Controls.
Creator Terms
- We have incorporated the Creator Terms, which address items such as the use of Roblox IP and Roblox Studio, the offering of Experiences and Virtual Content, and the use of music on the Services, into the User Terms and made them applicable to all Users of Roblox.
- We have clarified certain intellectual property rights relating to the use of Classic and Modified Classic Avatars.
- We have updated rights relating to the use of Licensed Music on Roblox.
- We created a section to explain the rights and responsibilities of Groups.
- We created a section to explain Earned Robux and Engagement Based Payouts.
Tech Talks Ep. 17: Growth Engineering
In this episode of the Roblox Tech Talks podcast, VP of Engineering (Growth) Anupam Singh joins CEO Dave Baszucki to discuss the technical challenges Roblox is solving to enhance search and discovery for hundreds of millions of creators and users.
And that’s a wrap! Thanks for tuning in to this week’s Roblox Weekly. Come back here next week to see what Roblox will be up to next. To keep up to date with the latest and greatest Roblox news, follow Bloxy News on social media.
