US gaming platform Roblox licensed for release in China, as company plans to go public
- Gaming unicorn Roblox and its Chinese partner Tencent have secured licences to launch the Roblox gaming platform on both mobile and PC
- Roblox has become enormously popular worldwide as a digital sandbox in which users can create their own games
The gaming platform has become enormously popular worldwide, particularly among children and teens, as a digital sandbox in which gamers can create their own characters, buildings, parks and even custom game modes. Some creators have replicated classic games such as Pokémon, Super Mario 64 and Counter-Strike inside the platform.
Unlike most other markets, China requires companies to obtain a government licence before releasing games in the country, a process which can take months, if not years. Roblox was one of 42 titles approved by the National Press and Publication Administration, the Chinese government organ overseeing imported games, on Wednesday.
China also requires gaming companies to work with a local publishing and operations partner. In 2019, Roblox and Tencent formed a joint venture, and the duo have been working towards getting a government licence since. The world’s largest gaming company by revenue, Tencent also publishes games by many gaming giants including Nintendo, Riot Games, Supercell, Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft.
“Tencent’s receipt of approval to publish the Chinese version of Roblox on December 2 could spur a big uplift to sales upon release which may come in 2H21, in our view,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Matthew Kanterman and Vey-Sern Ling in a research note.
The two analysts said that because Tencent had a large backlog of games awaiting release, Roblox’s China release could take some time.