4 ms·

It blows my mind how bad Lego is at licensing good video games. The few attempts they've done have been atrociously bad, and the entire Lego system is perfectly

by sen 5y ago

It blows my mind how bad Lego is at licensing good video games. The few attempts they've done have been atrociously bad, and the entire Lego system is perfectly suited to being a game. Just make Minecraft with Lego blocks, throw in multiplayer, and you'd have one of the biggest games out there. Instead we get these weird story games with very little of what makes Lego so great (building, creativity, etc), or licensed superhero games where the graphics are based on Lego and the building is basically "press a button and your character builds a predefined thing".

jurassic 5y ago
It's actually gone the other direction, with Lego releasing licensed Minecraft sets since 2012.
taubek 5y ago
Lego is the best at their core business, creating building blocks and toys. Maybe it is due to a fact that I'm not a kid anymore but I'm not a fan of Lego movies/cartoons.
- bllguo 5y ago
  well the Lego movies are pretty well received, objectively, so id say more than a "maybe." i was personally really impressed with the movies, and i wasnt in their target demo i dont know much about the cartoons but anecdotally they seem to be popular with their intended audience. after all their ninjago line has been running for ages. certainly their core business is the bread and butter, but i think Lego actually does a pretty good job with their side ventures (missing a minecraft-type opportunity aside)
wingerlang 5y ago
> ..or licensed superhero games.. I have not played these but I have heard nothing but praise for the lego star wars games. Do you think they are bad or do you assume they are?
- jsmith99 5y ago
  Many of the Lego games are great and Lego fans love them, but still lack much overlap with the creativity of actually building Lego.
jerrre 5y ago
Perhaps they fear destroying there current business model with a virtual replacement?
- saberdancer 5y ago
  I've read an article making that exact point. I've tried finding it but no luck. Essentially point was that Lego was scared of building/allowing a game that allowed "free blocks" as their whole business was selling blocks for money. It seems very short sighted but as any legacy business they tend to fall into that trap. This is why they allowed various games that utilize block as a art style, but there were not many building games.
duffmancd 5y ago
I think something like the Games Workshop/Warhammer 40k approach would work well here [1]. Lego has enough settings/worlds to hand off to different studios, and you have all the high-profile partnerships (like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel) that you can hand to the successful teams. Lego Star Wars is fun, but is exactly the same game as all the other Lego tie-in games. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtY3Lto_lR4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtY3Lto_lR4
watwut 5y ago
Lego games on tablet are super awesome for small kids. Probably best there it is for small age ranges.
- yread 5y ago
  Which ones?
drran 5y ago
See https://brickadia.com/ https://brickadia.com/
pjerem 5y ago
It exists, it's called Lego Worlds [1] but honestly, it's pretty complex to play with and with a lot of caveats (water management is terrible). However, I must acknowledge that the game is impressively fluid when you know that every brick in the world is a real (modifiable, breakable ...) brick. [1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/332310/LEGO_Worlds/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/332310/LEGO_Worlds/

by sen 5y ago

jurassic 5y ago

It's actually gone the other direction, with Lego releasing licensed Minecraft sets since 2012.

taubek 5y ago

Lego is the best at their core business, creating building blocks and toys. Maybe it is due to a fact that I'm not a kid anymore but I'm not a fan of Lego movies/cartoons.

bllguo 5y ago
well the Lego movies are pretty well received, objectively, so id say more than a "maybe." i was personally really impressed with the movies, and i wasnt in their target demo i dont know much about the cartoons but anecdotally they seem to be popular with their intended audience. after all their ninjago line has been running for ages. certainly their core business is the bread and butter, but i think Lego actually does a pretty good job with their side ventures (missing a minecraft-type opportunity aside)

wingerlang 5y ago

> ..or licensed superhero games.. I have not played these but I have heard nothing but praise for the lego star wars games. Do you think they are bad or do you assume they are?

jsmith99 5y ago
Many of the Lego games are great and Lego fans love them, but still lack much overlap with the creativity of actually building Lego.

jerrre 5y ago

Perhaps they fear destroying there current business model with a virtual replacement?

saberdancer 5y ago
I've read an article making that exact point. I've tried finding it but no luck. Essentially point was that Lego was scared of building/allowing a game that allowed "free blocks" as their whole business was selling blocks for money. It seems very short sighted but as any legacy business they tend to fall into that trap. This is why they allowed various games that utilize block as a art style, but there were not many building games.

duffmancd 5y ago

I think something like the Games Workshop/Warhammer 40k approach would work well here [1]. Lego has enough settings/worlds to hand off to different studios, and you have all the high-profile partnerships (like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel) that you can hand to the successful teams. Lego Star Wars is fun, but is exactly the same game as all the other Lego tie-in games. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtY3Lto_lR4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtY3Lto_lR4

watwut 5y ago

Lego games on tablet are super awesome for small kids. Probably best there it is for small age ranges.

yread 5y ago
Which ones?

drran 5y ago

See https://brickadia.com/ https://brickadia.com/

pjerem 5y ago

It exists, it's called Lego Worlds [1] but honestly, it's pretty complex to play with and with a lot of caveats (water management is terrible). However, I must acknowledge that the game is impressively fluid when you know that every brick in the world is a real (modifiable, breakable ...) brick. [1] https://store.steampowered.com/app/332310/LEGO_Worlds/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/332310/LEGO_Worlds/