The Roblox Innovation Awards 2023, an anticipated fixture at the Roblox Developers Conference (RDC), has been abruptly cancelled. The awards event, which was first announced on March 14, 2023, alongside the 2023 Roblox Developers Conference, was scheduled to take place on September 9, the second and final day of RDC. Roblox broke the news via its Twitter account, stating that the decision was made in the interest of safety.
“In an abundance of caution, we have decided to cancel the Roblox Innovation Awards due to a potential security concern. We are working with all appropriate authorities and everyone is safe. We take safety very seriously. This is not how we wanted RDC to end,” the tweet read.
While the exact nature of the “potential security concern” remains unconfirmed, speculation is circulating on social media. Many point to a tweet from an account under the username vinndict, which included an image of the location of the event and of a gunman. The tweet menacingly stated, “I will be seeing you soon at rdc @Roblox and good luck for everyone there. I will be seeing my love soon, Aide. cya [sic] around.”
After the event’s cancellation, the account in question claimed the threat was not serious and merely a joke, tweeting, “I didn’t mean this to get that bad I thought it would be taken obviously as a joke since it’s an airsoft gun I’m sorry it’s a hoax do not worry I picked someone random from fembys that I hated when I was an employee there when I was 12. This threat was not real.”
Although Roblox has not confirmed any connection to this Twitter account, or whether this tweet led to the event’s cancellation, it remains a focal point in discussions among those who were supposed to attend the event and others on social media platforms.
It remains to be seen what steps Roblox will take following this abrupt cancellation, whether any legal action will ensue, or if the company will attempt to reschedule the Innovation Awards for another time.
