The anime games on Roblox might be a ticking time bomb.

Roblox is replete with anime. If you check at the popular or top-rated game menus on any given day, you'll notice that anime-inspired games make up at least half of them. These encounters vary from subliminal gestures to outright, copyright-advocating, provocative reimaginings of well-known television shows like Dragonball, One Piece, and Demon Slayer. The obvious question is, how and why has this become such a standard practice?To begin with, anime has never been more popular. Few genres or styles have acquired as much traction recently as Marvel, despite the fact that the company has become a cultural giant over the previous ten or so years. This is partly because to publishing companies like Shonen Jump entering the European and American markets, Crunchyroll establishing and controlling the anime-only streaming business, and streaming services like Netflix that have been gradually introducing Western viewers to amiable anime.The reason why there are so many Roblox anime games is obvious: anime is very popular, and most anime include world-building features like character backstories, history, and other important details that would typically need the developer to come up with themselves. Alternatively, it's simpler to rent an IP and depend on it to draw players in the hopes that the gameplay will entice them to spend some Robux. The most important question is how Roblox developers use content that is protected by copyright without encountering any opposition from Roblox or, often, the copyright holders. Roblox does have a very clear policy on the use of material from third parties, and as stated on their website, they use the Digital Media Copyright Act (DMCA) to remove any game that violates the rules. But it doesn't seem like Roblox is acting in this way without the copyright holder's permission.We thus need to take a deeper look at the developers of these games and how they are blatantly and carelessly ripping off multimillion-dollar properties. The latter is a startling but clear-cut answer: they're doing it because they can. We'll use a case study contrasting the wildly successful Blox Fruits with the now-defunct Shinobi Life 2 to demonstrate this.As of this writing, Blox Fruits is one of the most played games on Roblox. Similar to Shinobi Life 2, you have to go a little—but not too far—beyond the title to discover the original material's impact. The One Piece logo's ship-wheel design and the O from Blox Fruits' emblem are so close that it would be difficult for someone who isn't acquainted with either to tell them apart. Blox Fruits' development staff is obviously paying great attention to how they build content for the game, as seen by the game's almost three-year existence on the Roblox platform and its success. The key to the formula's success seems to be the fact that several of the One Piece series' terms, including "Devil Fruit" and "Pirate King," are barely patentable. This is fortunate since it means that the pirate subgenre would never have survived beyond Treasure Island. Still, it's rather clear that Blox Fruits depends solely on the One Piece setting and legend. The development team only needs to keep appropriating ideas and elements from a series that has produced over 1,500 episodes to advance their game, given the force of an established brand. They should take care not to use any content that may result in a stop and desist order. The benefit of carrying it out? a substantial portion of the Robux were used for the game.Shinobi Life 2 has a regular user base of over 100,000 concurrent players and was formerly one of the most played games on the site. Shinobi Life 2 is a love letter to the Naruto series, if you're being kind. If you're being practical, however, you'd probably label it a cash-in. One of "the big three" Japanese anime programs that dominated Western audiences in the early 2000s was Naruto, which is a long-lasting IP that sells well. It's one of the several well-known anime brands that you can put on sweatshirts and water bottles, and you can be sure that they will sell like hotcakes. Naturally, Shinobi Life 2 became popular, but this time, copyright holders took notice.Even though the game's name was Shinobi Life 2, it was registered under the collective name Naruto RPG, which allowed Viz Media—the company that owns the rights to publish Naruto in English—to issue Roblox with a stop and desist order. Roblox cooperated, not want to run afoul of the law, and both Shinobi Life 2 and the Naruto RPG club vanished quickly.The real reason I started writing this post emerges at this time, when things start to become serious. Roblox retains its market share. As long as the developer doesn't challenge the removal and retains any revenue from development, the IP owner often gets their way without facing any legal repercussions. But the user is left unable to access a game they have probably spent many hours and many bucks on.This gives the impression that a game like Blox Fruits is a ticking time bomb rather than one that is treading a careful line. A copyright owner could theoretically remove a game that contains three years' worth of material and certain gamers who have been playing it from day one, and in all likelihood, they would have every right to do so.I'm not sure whether intellectual property owners are waiting for the perfect piece of proof to start the process of takedown requests and the like, but I would guess that they are, sitting in their offices, monitoring Roblox updates. Even yet, a few titles manage to get past the internet.Though it never quite reached the heights it once achieved, Shinobi Life 2 did make a comeback as Shindo Life 2, complete with all the modifications required to placate Roblox and the copyright holders. Players lost everything from the anime game they had signed up for, so they switched to the next one instead.As you can see, there is an issue with Roblox's lax handling of copyright content. It should come as no surprise that the player-turned-consumer bears the brunt of this issue rather than the multibillion dollar corporation. Not to go all Helen Lovejoy, but the fact that youngsters make up the majority of Roblox's primary user base doubles the issue.Some Roblox authors, along with many of its fans, defend anime Roblox ripoffs by claiming that a dearth of transferred games in the West plagues many of their favorite IPs. But with games like Naruto, Dragonball, and One Piece available on several platforms, that justification is becoming weaker every year.The fact that these games are often restricted to a certain genre suggests something. For example, the two console versions of My Hero Academia are only fighting games, yet this does not dispel the notion that there is nothing to appeal to gaming anime enthusiasts outside of Japan. You actually only need one Roblox game per IP, even if this argument had any merit—after all, Roblox gaming is almost a genre unto itself. And as for Demon Slayer alone, there are more Roblox games than you can count on two hands. The closest comparison I can think of is that Roblox anime games are similar to the Dragonball figure knockoffs I acquired on my two-week visit to Salou in 2004. These are cheap knockoffs, a walk into the uncanny valley of almost identical replicas and easily breakable disposable features. This is a market gap, nothing more, just a collection of misspelled words and well-known faces twisted by the need to avoid copyright attorneys' wrath for as long as humanly feasible. You did not sign up for this.Now, let's return to the main query. Why does Roblox have such an anime obsession? because it generates revenue. Why do creators still create blatant parodies of anime? because they are able to. Will there be any changes? It's hard to determine.There haven't been many well-publicized instances of Roblox games going missing since Shinobi Life 2, with creators proving to be more astute when it comes to making their inspired titles. But it's also evident that these games are always a precarious business, raising the possibility of a consumer rights dispute that the Roblox user base may overlook.It is difficult to see Roblox anime games in the future. Remember, Roblox takes a big cut from all the Robux spent on these anime games. I don't think the company finds it too difficult to choose between losing a lucrative group of games and hoping that no one in high places notices the newest "Demon Slayin' Simulator."Until their mother sees the credit card statement, youngsters will continue to pour Robux into their favorite anime Roblox game despite all consumer advise to the contrary. However, there's no denying that Roblox's library of anime games is like a house of cards constructed from someone else's deck, ready to collapse at the first hint of an Eastern wind.If you're looking for some freebies after reading this, have a look at our collection of Anime Warriors codes.