future in lego and triple A licenses

Miubou

we first got minecraft and although it was fun, now there is a overwatch theme, out my curiosity i began to think about what other licenses Lego may consider i n the video game market... with the popularity of games like the battle royal theme, or more conventional RPG style, even fps sense Lego surprised us with overwatch which is strange... {also what is with toy company's with surprising us with unexpected stuff like the Nerf scar H} 
i dont why but i know there will be no GTA legos or red dead redemption set, also no call of duty due to the license in mega construx hands, there is a variety of sets and themes Lego could do, like 7 days to die and assassins creed, and half life... well... there is Nintendo and i am going to say no Pokemon cause mega construx... this is interesting time to be a toy fan!

Miubou

WHY IS NINTENDO NOW A LINK!!!!!!!!! THIS IS WHY I HARE AUTO CORRECT!!!!!!!

datsunrobbie

^Skimlinks converts some keywords to links, and clicks on those links help fund the site. Check out the big blue "Content monetized by Skimlinks" link on the forum homepage for more details.

Baby_Yoda

None of the popular genres right now really lend themselves to Lego:

• "Battle Royale" games are a trending fad that won't last long enough for Lego's lengthy product design process
• Modern RPGs are too open-ended to have any marketably iconic locations or characters
• First-person shooters are generally too realistic or adult-oriented for Lego, with the exclusion of Overwatch and perhaps Destiny

The biggest difficulty with Lego making entire themes based on videogames is finding a sufficiently mainstream licence for their target audience. Everyone watches movies from time to time, but not everyone plays videogames. Everyone's heard of Star Wars, but not everyone's heard of Halo.

terfsten

Case in point. The other day I was talking with an older gentleman and I mentioned pokemon. Something that has been around since at least 1996 I believe. He had no clue what I was talking about and when I tried to explain it to him he looked at me like I was insane lol. Never realized how hard it is to explain to someone who's never heard of it.

Baby_Yoda

A lot of people don't realise how specific so-called "common knowledge" is to certain cultures. I've met people who will even get legitimately angry when others express a lack of understanding or appreciation for whatever moderately popular franchise they follow. These people are collectively known as "The Neckbeards" (irrespective of actual facial hair style). (Edit: or fan-peoples)

560Heliport

It's fun to mess with those people! A co-worker once asked me if I was a Vikings fan (the Minnesota Vikings are an (American) football team. I replied, "No, I don't follow baseball at all." The expression on his face was wonderful!

Astrobricks

560Heliport said:

It's fun to mess with those people! A co-worker once asked me if I was a Vikings fan (the Minnesota Vikings are an (American) football team. I replied, "No, I don't follow baseball at all." The expression on his face was wonderful!

I think they play in that stadium they built for the X-games. ;-)

560Heliport

We have a stadium? How'd that happen?

Astrobricks

The old one popped.

Gibbo1959

To reference @terfsten above - for reasons unknown I had a look at the Pokemon Go thread recently and found myself reading many messages and felt a bit like I was somewhere with lots of people around me speaking a language very similar to the one I use and yet not one word made the slightest bit of sense to me! And I just did it again now. I was aware of pokemon in the sense I know it exists (and yes, I am an 'older gentleman' too!) but beyond that.....
I concur with @Baby_Yoda - one man's common knowledge is another's extremely obscure and weird obsession!

560Heliport

^^ I thought they knocked it down and put Mall of America there...

TheFew

Would love Lego Fallout.

Aanchir

Baby_Yoda said:

None of the popular genres right now really lend themselves to Lego:

• "Battle Royale" games are a trending fad that won't last long enough for Lego's lengthy product design process
• Modern RPGs are too open-ended to have any marketably iconic locations or characters
• First-person shooters are generally too realistic or adult-oriented for Lego, with the exclusion of Overwatch and perhaps Destiny

The biggest difficulty with Lego making entire themes based on videogames is finding a sufficiently mainstream licence for their target audience. Everyone watches movies from time to time, but not everyone plays videogames. Everyone's heard of Star Wars, but not everyone's heard of Halo.

I think market segmentation will play a big role in this as well, though. There are many themes that are skewed not just toward a particular age range but also a particular geographic area or interest category, and in those cases it's often less important for a theme to cater to a majority of the target age range than a segment of that age range that is currently under-served by existing product lines.

A theme that caters to the same broad range of kids as, say, LEGO Friends, LEGO Ninjago, or LEGO City, might be more redundant (and thus, less valuable/necessary) than one that targets a smaller number of kids, but with different ages, genders, interests, or cultural backgrounds than those themes.

Particularly since the size, priority, and lifespan of LEGO themes is not fixed! A theme that might not reach nearly enough people to justify City or Star Wars sized waves, might still be able to justify smaller waves of six or fewer sets that we so often see in smaller themes like Elves and Speed Champions. And a license that might be too "faddish" to last even as long as those could still work for a more short-lived theme, particularly if LEGO gets involved enough in video game licensing to begin development before a highly-anticipated game's release, as they so often do for movie licenses.

It can also be a huge mistake to assume a video game genre or series, even a craze that seemingly arose out of nowhere, is only a temporary fad. A lot of people suspected as much of Pokémon, yet both the Pokémon series as a whole and the broader category of monster-collecting RPGs were able to persist for well over a decade even if they didn't maintain the same degree of hype as when they were the newest, biggest thing on the market (Yo-Kai Watch is a series in this genre that launched as recently as 2011 and achieved considerable success, particularly in Japan and Europe). Harry Potter and The Beatles are also brands that were perceived as a faddish "mania" early on but ended up with a fairly stable, long-lasting level of popularity rather than sinking into obscurity after that initial craze wound down.

Baby_Yoda

The thing that Pokemon, Harry Potter and the Beatles have that online games don't is longevity. There's quite a bit to even the first Pokemon games, with large, varied worlds and numerous different species to collect that have their own unique "personality" to them. The Harry Potter series is pretty long when you consider the size of each book and that there are seven of them; furthermore, the universe Rowling created through those novels was big, imaginative and original, and readers wanted to explore it. The Beatles are a band, so I don't think they're really comparable.

The diversity of battle royale games, however, stems from its player base. Take Fortnite, for example. If you had to play every match with exactly the same people, would it be nearly as fun? The actual gameplay (as far as I can tell, I'm not a hardcore player) is shallow and repetitive, with factors like accuracy relying heavily on randomisation. Because of this, it's very easy to start playing and winning straight away. You don't need to get good at the game to do well in it. This is highly appealing to children, who want that instantaneous reward for their efforts. Unfortunately, it also means the game lacks strategic depth. There's no such thing as using your favourite weapon like in CoD or Destiny. If you want to survive, you have to do whatever everyone else is doing.

My point is that this can't last forever. Players will eventually realise that after years of playing every single day, the only thing that's changed is the number of wins they've achieved and the frequency with which they encounter situations they're already familiar with. I don't think a game that relies entirely on social interaction, RNG and meta-reading will survive for more than a couple of years.

Although, I do agree with your point that small themes would be appropriate if Lego could get on the bandwagon quickly. However, I don't think it's in their nature to set a product line up without at least a small hope that its subject matter will still be popular enough to justify a continuation. 

Miubou

Baby_Yoda said:

Although, I do agree with your point that small themes would be appropriate if Lego could get on the bandwagon quickly. However, I don't think it's in their nature to set a product line up without at least a small hope that its subject matter will still be popular enough to justify a continuation. 

i am OK with lego making set, but lego and overwatch was so shocking, your earlier post you said that FPS was to realistic, well that is true to some extent we have had darker themes in lego, like DINO attack, a line that was never allowed in the U.S. because it was a whole theme of killing mutant dinosaurs! [yes its real] so im on the fence on what to support, more video game sets, or no game sets...

terfsten

^ @Miubou Dino Attack was available in the U.S. in fact that was the version that had all the blasters and shooters to "kill" the mutant dinosaurs. I believe it was the U.K. that got Dino 2010. A softer series based on the same thing but with cages and chains to "capture and study" the creatures instead.

SumoLego

Angry Birds is fundamentally kamikaze poultry pitted against eggicidal swine. 

Or we could just not take that so seriously. 

If you want to complain about themes, Nazis from the Indiana Jones theme normally trumps all other arguments.

Fauch

invalid argument, godwin point reached

SumoLego

Fauch said:

...godwin point...

Is that like the 'Brown Note'?

(I'm not sure citing an implied mutant dinosaur holocaust has much resonance.  But nonetheless, I'll beg off on this topic any further.)

Miubou

SumoLego, you are true, angry birds is just weird...

PotatoBrick

Since Lego partnered up with Blizzard it really opens the door. I am hoping with the WC3 remaster that they make some Warcraft sets! Much later on there could possibly be SC3 and Diablo4 sets? Oh my! 

In addition I would like to see Lego do a 2019 technic series of fighter jets much like they're doing high-end autos like the GT3 and Chiron. I recommend the A-10 warthog as the first set :). Can I also say here that I would also love a re-release of Green Grocer in 2019 xD. 

Astrobricks

PotatoBrick said:

Since Lego partnered up with Blizzard it really opens the door. I am hoping with the WC3 remaster that they make some Warcraft sets! Much later on there could possibly be SC3 and Diablo4 sets? Oh my! 

In addition I would like to see Lego do a 2019 technic series of fighter jets much like they're doing high-end autos like the GT3 and Chiron. I recommend the A-10 warthog as the first set :). Can I also say here that I would also love a re-release of Green Grocer in 2019 xD. 

@PotatoBrick, you might want to do a little research on lego doing military/war themes. The short version is, they don’t. (Except in certain fantasy-ish cases, like Star Wars and Overwatch)

If you really want an A-10 and have a lot of money, check out Brickmania.

CCC

Astrobricks said:

PotatoBrick said:

Since Lego partnered up with Blizzard it really opens the door. I am hoping with the WC3 remaster that they make some Warcraft sets! Much later on there could possibly be SC3 and Diablo4 sets? Oh my! 

In addition I would like to see Lego do a 2019 technic series of fighter jets much like they're doing high-end autos like the GT3 and Chiron. I recommend the A-10 warthog as the first set :). Can I also say here that I would also love a re-release of Green Grocer in 2019 xD. 

@PotatoBrick, you might want to do a little research on lego doing military/war themes. The short version is, they don’t. (Except in certain fantasy-ish cases, like Star Wars and Overwatch)

And other cases like the already mentioned Indiana Jones. Although they don't do modern military / war themes, they will touch on it in other themes if it makes sense to.