Roblox has launched the Roblox License Manager, a self-service platform through which creators can submit applications to participating rights holders requesting use of IP in user-generated content for the virtual worlds platform. Participating companies are invited to identify content they are willing to license the new Roblox Licenses catalog, which creators can browse and use as the basis for applications that propose how the IP will be used. Rights holders can approve or decline the request and set terms. Netflix, Lionsgate, Sega and Japanese publishing firm Kodansha are the initial participants.

On launch, the Roblox Licenses catalog will contain seven franchises: from Netflix, “Squid Game” and “Stranger Things”; Lionsgate’s “Divergent,” “Saw,” “Now You See Me” and “Twilight”; and Sega’s “Like A Dragon.”

Two additional titles, “Blue Lock” and “That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime,” will be added in August, with more titles coming later this year, according to the company, which says it intends to open the License Manager to all IP holders in the coming months.

The Roblox License Manager “streamlines what used to be a corporate maze,” writes Tech Times, noting that “if approved, the licensed experience gets a green light, with no extra legal wrangling.”

The goal is for fans is “more polished content based on popular franchises, not just the janky fan-made stuff that gets pulled down after two weeks,” Tech Times adds.

Roblox thinks this will translate to more revenue. At the 2024 Roblox Developers Conference the company set a goal of 10 percent of all global gaming content revenue flowing through its platform, which supports millions of user-created experiences. “Our creators are thriving; in 2024, they earned $923 million on the platform, a 25 percent increase from $741 million in 2023. They are on track to receive over $1 billion of earnings this year,” Roblox said in a newsroom post.

License Manager content participants will have a chance to get a piece of that through a portion of the profits generated through use of their IP, as specified in the agreed-upon terms. Although Roblox did not provide contract and revenue sharing info in the newsroom post by Chief Product Officer Manuel Bronstein, the License Manager is a hot topic in the Roblox Creator Hub, a developer forum.

Kodansha President and CEO Yoshinobu Noma called the Roblox arrangement “a new form of licensing” and welcomed the opportunity to share the company’s manga, novels and anime adaptations with creators as a way to “deepen our connection with fans and explore new storytelling avenues within immersive experiences,” per the newsroom announcement.

Lionsgate EVP and Head of Global Products and Experiences Jenefer Brown told Variety that “fans will enjoy new, authentic and exciting official experiences that these creators will now be able to deliver” as a result of the License Manager, and said her company is “working on some big things” to launch on Roblox later this year.

Related:
Roblox Creators Can Now Make Their Own ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Twilight’ Games, The Verge, 7/15/25
Roblox Game-Buying Frenzy Is Turning Teens into Millionaires, Los Angeles Times, 7/14/25