The company had its own engine that developers around the world used to create their own virtual worlds. After games were translated to Chinese, Roblox could then make some of them visible in the country. Roblox, meanwhile, had a massive back catalog of user-made content it could bring to China.

Roblox also pointed to Tencent’s repeated failures at launching user-generated content (UGC) gaming in the past few years.

Although Tencent was likely to create a similar platform, and seemed to have one in the works in the wings, Roblox had no copycats in China yet, according to the slides. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, or 2017, the Chinese market seemed wide open for Roblox. “Will need heightened security globally,” the Roblox slide on security continued.ĭo you work at Roblox? We'd love to hear from you. Roblox also expected a group of hundreds of people to be working on reverse engineering any code that the company placed on Chinese servers.

Motherboard is publishing details from the documents despite them being obtained by a criminal hacker because of the overriding public interest in understanding the highly controversial steps major companies might take in order to break into markets in authoritarian countries. The documents were originally obtained and then published online this month by a separate, criminal hacker who attempted to extort Roblox. There is no evidence that Tencent did target Roblox. Users and developers also “must not tamper with historical facts” and “must not appear any images or names of national leaders.” The documents also show the steps Roblox had to take in order for its game to comply with Chinese censorship laws: any maps created in the game had to “respect the integrity of the country and not misrepresent the Chinese territory,” including by recognizing Beijing’s claim of self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, according to a presentation given to Roblox by Tencent. “Expect it to ramp up after a deal is signed, possibly even by partner.” The slide dates from before Roblox ultimately announced a partnership with Tencent. “Expect that hacking has already started,” one slide in a presentation from 2017, called “China MVP Ideas from Aug Trip CONFIDENTAL,” read.

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