Thirty years in the past, Lego took its first tentative step past bodily toys with the discharge of Enjoyable to Construct, a Japan-only recreation for the largely forgotten Sega Pico console. Three a long time later, the mighty LEGO model’s online game ambitions at the moment are its personal numerous empire, a set of digital experiences designed to cater to a wide range of tastes.
There is a good purpose for that. As anybody who follows video video games is aware of, the expansion of the trade has additionally include main modifications, together with continued modifications in the best way gamers entry and personal video games, and there are additionally generational variations in why video games are so essential.
For a lot of, the thought of ββa Lego online game remains to be synonymous with the prolific work of TT Video games. TT Video games is a British improvement studio that has developed dozens of licensed titles that includes blockbuster collection resembling Star Wars, Batman, and Harry Potter. However the LEGO model now graces various experiences from different established creators, together with the lately unveiled LEGO Voyager at Annapurna and Nintendo’s LEGO Get together. After which there’s Lego Fortnite, however extra on that later.
In talking with Fredrik LΓΆving, the corporate’s new senior vp of LEGO Sport, and veteran product director Kari Vinther Nielsen, who’re chargeable for LEGO’s expansive gaming portfolio, it is clear that the corporate acknowledges that the world of video video games is already altering, and that youthful generations who grew up with the likes of Minecraft, Roblox, and Fortnite (LEGO’s core viewers) at the moment are connecting with social media throughout a broader vary of platforms. This can proceed to alter as a result of individuals are on the lookout for experiences. However on the identical time, the model acknowledges that it additionally must cater to extra conventional avid gamers.
“Actually understanding at the moment’s children is at all times a very powerful factor,” Loving says. “There’s been an enormous change within the gaming world, and everyone knows it and we have all seen it. Video games imply one thing completely different to the era that is rising up at the moment than they imply to me. After I was rising up on an Amiga 500, I used to be escaping into the world, escaping into the display screen, and taking part in these video games with a really clear objective.
“The primary purpose for at the moment’s rising children is to seek out actions they will do with their pals in a social area. Second, no matter that exercise really is is essential.” That is an commentary that rings very true after video games like “Develop a Backyard” and “Steal the Brainrot” noticed an enormous leap in participant numbers this summer time. These experiences helped Lego break engagement information on Roblox, a social gaming platform that Lego had beforehand prevented.
βAvid gamers are essentially completely different,β Loving continues. So the place does that depart LEGO?
βI used to be very lucky to work on LEGO Worlds,β Nielsen remembers. LEGO Worlds is a LEGO-inspired sandbox recreation the place gamers can construct complicated fashions utilizing digital blocks. Whereas it was an honest success, it was a product of its time, and regardless of its Lego branding, it was the sport it was most frequently in comparison with, and it did not appear to problem the already dominant Minecraft. Nonetheless, the ambition was clear. βFor me, it was proof of what bodily bricks are in a digital area,β Nielsen continues. βFollowers created fashions, created worlds, created tales, and I feel thatβs the ability of digital play, the place you possibly can create and share differently than you might within the bodily world.
Nielsen, who labored at Lego for greater than a decade, mentioned the conversations that had been engaged on the thought for Worlds are nonetheless “the identical story and the identical issues we’re speaking about.” “We have to mix IP, and we have to perceive what the digital model of the bodily illustration is. What’s the actual, true recreation model of that? I do not suppose the dialog has modified a lot,” she continued. “It is extra about actually adapting to the best way youngsters play at the moment, and being open-minded about the right way to diversify play, the right way to be inclusive to create the correct of play for youngsters on the planet they reside in. I feel that is really the place we have made nice strides lately.”
“Youngsters are actually utilizing video video games as a solution to socialize and as a spot to fulfill pals,” Nielsen continued, echoing Loebing’s earlier phrases. “Clearly we need to come out in a protected and optimistic method, however I feel that simply speaks to the sort of video games and the sort of play that we actually need as a LEGO model. It isn’t about only one model that is appropriate for avid gamers, it is about having a various portfolio to swimsuit completely different play wants and completely different moments.”
It is an method Lego has demonstrated over the previous few months, launching Mario Get together-style Lego Get together to encourage cross-generational multiplayer in the identical month as indie puzzle-platformer Lego Voyager. βLego events are the place I actually need to hang around with family and friends,β Nielsen says. “Lego Voyager, then again, was a take a look at of my relationships. I am not going to lie. It was a little bit of a ‘go forward, I am the one taking part in now.'”
After which there’s LEGO Fortnite, which continues to evolve each week. The present degree of general success and expectations is tough to gauge, particularly when in comparison with one thing just like the viral recognition of Develop a Backyard. However its most full providing, LEGO Fortnite Odyssey, stays a perennial hit, with the following large replace coming quickly (followers are hoping it would embrace characters from the massively widespread Ninjago franchise). In the meantime, role-playing sim possibility LEGO Brick Life is at the moment internet hosting a serious takeover of The Simpsons, albeit with smaller viewership. And Lego’s central enchantment right here is that gamers can construct and create their very own mini-games. This could develop into simpler to do over time and provide you with extra superior potentialities.
βMy daughter loves area, characters, tales, and storytelling,β Nielsen says of LEGO Fortnite modes. “We’re actually beginning to develop and increase the alternatives for creators to create their favourite LEGO video games and inform tales by way of their video games. We’re actually within the early levels right here,” she continues. “It isn’t like we’ve not had digital development or manufacturing in our portfolio over the past 30 years, however the world round us has modified, as have the platforms and the tempo of manufacturing. When Fred joined us, we (joked): ‘You are used to creating video games that take 5 years, however I can do your job and do it in 4 hours.’
Whereas nothing that appears as refined as TT Video games’ upcoming Lego Batman: Legacy of the Darkish Knight could but be true, a few of Lego’s earliest creations, resembling Lego Island, the model’s second online game (and first critical digital hit), may definitely be recreated in at the moment’s Fortnite. βCreating experiences, testing new issues, and making an attempt them out in a sooner engine with the correct companions and the correct creators is an entire completely different actuality,β Nielsen says.
“And it goes again to what I mentioned about actually understanding at the moment’s avid gamers,” Loving added. βCo-creation, company, all of the belongings you simply talked about. These issues are rapidly turning into, if not already, essential to quite a lot of the experiences on the market, particularly for the massive platforms.β
That mentioned, Lego’s extra conventional gaming experiences aren’t going away utterly both – as subsequent yr’s Lego Batman: Legacy of the Darkish Knight proves. It was one of many largest and most well-received recreation reveals of the yr, and was lately obtained very effectively throughout Gamescom 2025. For Lego, experiences just like the one we’re about to supply will proceed to be an essential a part of our model providing.
“I launched Star Wars to my son by way of the Lego recreation Skywalker Saga,” Loving mentioned. “It is a large deal for a father to really have that have along with his son. It isn’t simply taking part in collectively, it is a continuation of the fandom that is made potential by the truth that it is a Lego recreation. Even earlier than I joined the corporate, I used to be impressed by the thought of, ‘How can we do this? How can we do this and really have intergenerational play?’
“I feel our model stands for lots of issues, and a few moments are actually immersive and immersive, like a six-hour session,” Nielsen asserts. “I play legacy board video games, and I do know it is going to take a very long time. I am invested. It will be even higher if I may really play with family and friends or play co-op on the sofa. That will be nice, and I feel that is what’s nice about TT Video games.”
Lego is getting into its fortieth yr within the digital world, and it is clear that it has ambitions past easy static plastic. From venturing into the world of straightforward robotics with MindStorms to extra lately mixing interactivity with LEGO Tremendous Mario bricks, it is clear the corporate is eager to experiment with what’s potential with play. One other instance is LEGO Dimensions, the model’s experiment within the toy toy class, which could be seen as a precursor to at the moment’s LEGO Fortnite attributable to its concentrate on IP mashups and journey.
However on the finish of the day, Nielsen says, it is all about discovering the correct of theater for the correct viewers. “Typically when I’ve time to play a recreation, I can deliver it into the current or into the longer term with completely different flavors and twists,” she says. “It is no completely different than the Lego model of Darth Vader or Batman. I feel there is a generational factor to this.”
Tom Phillips is videogameaddicted’s information editor. You possibly can contact Tom at tom_phillips@videogameaddicted.com or discover him on Bluesky. @tomphillipseg.bsky.social