In the 1980s, there was a boom in toys made for children, as big franchises for both boys and girls, such as Masters of The Universe, The Cabbage Patch Kids, Transformers, My Little Pony, littered the aisles and created real frenzies in stores. That was disrupted by the arrival of the Nintendo Entertainment System, as the return of video games, with its advanced technology and the experiences they provided, proved far more compelling than any physical toys. Today, some toy companies seem set to take their proverbial revenge.
As reported by Engadget, Lego has revealed that they are entering the video game industry as developers. In the past two or so decades, Lego has successfully leveraged their brand by partnering with game developers and publishers to make licensed games. At the same time, they have been partnering with game companies to make brick toy sets of their video game franchises. This time, they want to start making some of those games themselves.
Lego Group CEO Niels B. Christiansen went on record for this, saying:
“We can definitely say as long as we’re under the Lego brand we can cover experiences for kids of all ages, digital or physical. [Games development in-house] is something we’re building up.”
This seems to be the latest step Lego has taken in the fallout of their falling out with longtime Lego game developer Traveller’s Tales. After it became public that the studio had overstretched itself on taking on multiple Lego games, that they were no longer making them with quality, Lego started making their moves. That included Lego 2K Drive, an original racing game with 2K Games. But it also included a new big money partnership with Nintendo to make interactive Lego toys based on the Mario franchise, and a dedicated Lego Fortnite game experience with Epic Games.
But this may be bigger than just reacting to Traveller’s Tales. As we know, Hasbro have themselves started their own game studios recently. Both Hasbro and Lego have seen challenging years to their toy business, somewhat mirroring the situation from the 1980s. But this time, these toy companies see an opportunity to make money in video games instead of competing against them.
It speaks to the changing nature of this market, as Hasbro in particular seemed reticent to reenter video games. They did start a Hasbro Interactive in 1995, that would ultimately see limited success as a business. They sold that business to Infogrames in 2001, and that happens to be the company we now know as Atari Inc.
Hasbro’s and Lego’s new entry into video games also mirrors the interest expressed by other players from other businesses, such as Amazon, Apple, and Paramount. We don’t know if Mattel, the original owners of the Intellivision, would venture to make a new games console, but we wouldn’t be surprised if they tried to revive their business by getting into video games as well. Video games may not be a completely safe, profitable industry, but it actually is safer than the toy business is right now.
