After a year of success, the popular Roblox experience UNOfficial, inspired by the physical card game UNO, has closed, likely due to legal issues with Mattel. While it was open, this experience managed to pull in over 100 million visits and acquire over half a million favorites, and was widely recognized as one of the best party experiences on the platform. In a short statement posted by UNOfficial's developer Rawblocky, it's insinuated that this closure will mark the end for UNOfficial, and that it's unlikely the experience will ever re-debut on the platform.
The official statement, posted on Rawblocky's Twitter account, relays the following:
"Due to legal issues, I unfortunately have to close UNOfficial. I do not want to risk a legal battle against a big corporation, so the game is going to be closed. I have no clue if there is even a chance the game will be back up and running. I know this sucks, and I love the game to death, however I cannot risk a big corporation ruining my life. The game did not contain any copyrighted assets, as all assets were either made by my team and I or were gained from permission from stuff like PLS DONATE, so getting hit with this was a shock. For gamepass owners of the "More Decks" gamepass, I will be providing you with benefits for some of my future games, that way your Robux isn't gone down to waste. Thanks for playing, love ya'll."
Rawblocky
Mattel, the owner of UNO, is no stranger to the Roblox platform, with the company even creating their own official He-Man experience in April 2022. This also isn't the first time that Mattel has DMCA-ed a Roblox experience, as many players recall the massive wipe that took place in 2021 and removed hundreds of Thomas the Tank Engine-themed experiences from the platform.
Related: Roblox settles $10 million lawsuit that demands refunds on deleted avatar items
In response to the news of UNOfficial's closure, many discouraged fans have taken to Twitter to share their thoughts on the situation and put forth ideas and suggestions as to what Mattel should have done instead, stating that the company "missed [an] opportunity to hop on a business deal," and that even though the legal action makes sense, they "should have offered to acquire it for [a payment] and [then] represent it as an official UNO game on Roblox."
There are still other UNO-inspired experiences on the platform at the time of this article's publication, and more will likely continue to be uploaded in the future, but this situation showcases the massive amount of uncharted territory that still exists when discussing Roblox and its reoccurring issues with legality.
Looking to read up on some more Roblox news? Check out some of our other articles on Roblox’s 2023 Developer Convention (RDC) and Innovation Awards to be a hybrid event, announced for September or Creatures of Sonaria partners with Wind Sun Sky Entertainment to create series adaption – Roblox here on Pro Game Guides.
Published: Jun 16, 2023 01:35 pm