Roblox's Chinese version, named LuoBuLeSi, launched in July 2021 but was shut just five months later. Vice's report makes clear that there is no evidence Tencent did target Roblox. Roblox was also warned it 'must not tamper with historical facts' - presumably, as China sees them - and not include 'images or names of national leaders'. 'Expect them to be successful,' the presentation concluded.Ī presentation given to Roblox by Tencent, meanwhile, included demands that the game 'respect the integrity of the country and not misrepresent the Chinese territory', including recognising areas 'prone to errors' such as Taiwan and Tibet. Indeed, there are eye-opening accusations by Roblox that it expected its own partner Tencent to clone the game and launch its own version, and that 'hundreds of people' would likely be set on reverse-engineering Roblox code sat on Chinese servers.

Revelations revealed in the report include instructions to Roblox employees in one internal presentation to 'expect that hacking has already started' and that it would 'ramp up after a deal is signed, possibly even by partner'. Vice has said it has published these details to shine a light on the lengths that Western companies can be forced to go to if they decide to enter the Chinese market. The details, published by Vice, come from documents recently obtained by a hacker and held to ransom, before being posted online. Roblox planned numerous concessions to Chinese state censorship and expected its game be hacked and cloned by Chinese companies as part of its launch in the country, an astonishing cache of leaked internal documents has revealed.

Roblox leaked corporation