Roblox Launches Licensing Platform with Lionsgate, Netflix, Sega, and Kodansha

With the new Roblox License Manager, Roblox aims to establish a marketplace for licences between rights holders and Roblox content creator. The goal is to integrate many licensors and introduce various new licensing models so that licensed experiences can be created quickly and easily.

Roblox itself describes the move as a milestone on the way to its goal of generating ten percent of gaming revenue on the Roblox platform. Even if the target primarily serves marketing purposes to be honest, Roblox could well continue to grow as a gaming platform with the launch of its new licensing initiative.

In any case, with the Roblox License Manager and the associated licence catalogue, Roblox has created a platform where content creators can quickly and easily find potential licensors. In the medium term, Roblox wants to massively expand its catalogue of rights and attract more companies to the platform, while also creating new licence formats to enable creators and licensors to work together more flexibly.

To kick things off, Roblox has secured well-known IP holders such as Lionsgate, Netflix, Sega, and Kodansha, which have brought the IPs Squid Game, Stranger Things, Twilight, Saw, Divergent, Now You See Me, and Like A Dragon to the platform. Two IPs are set to follow in the coming weeks, with more to come later.

The biggest hurdle for Roblox's plans, however, is likely to be the scope of the licence packages. In the past, gaming rights to IPs were often licensed in packages and across platforms. Only rarely was a Roblox experience created alongside a PC or console game by games developers and publishers. The platform could initiate a rethink among IP holders, so that gaming licence agreements could exclude Roblox Experiences and these rights could be brokered directly via the Roblox platform.

The example of the dispute between FIFA and Electronic Arts shows that rights holders are considering and striving to increase their licence revenue by diversifying the exploitation of ‘interactive rights’. In this case, however, the result was that FIFA angered its – according to the New York Times – most important and highest-grossing licensee to such an extent that the two parties went their separate ways, with FIFA still unable to find a replacement and presumably losing billions in licence revenue per World Cup period, i.e. every four years, while EA is building up its own football IP with EA Sports FC.

However, this strategy is likely to pay off for many other licensors. Especially since such a licensing platform is not only suitable for film and TV IPs. Taking the model further, brand owners could one day use the platform to showcase their products under licence from creators. Many companies and brands like adidas, Gucci, Nivea or Tommi Hilfiger and many more already have their own experiences on Roblox, but these have generally been implemented by specialised agencies and corresponding creators.

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