architect wrote:1. Parents want to purchase a product once for their children.
That, above all, was why I never thought it would be profitable. You have to get subscribers that are both addicted to the gaming experience AND are capable of paying for themselves. Teenagers and adults fit that description, but not so much kids. If you market it to kids, you've got to have, say, something you can purchase for a year, or a certain number of hours. Plus, there's a gamble there with parents-- will my child actually make use of the subscription? And will they *continue* to do so?
I dunno if I blame the whole tactile-vs-virtual thing all that much. The TT video games have been hugely successful for them. But I think that's because TT developed a *wonderful* game engine that was simple and adaptable to different LEGO themes easily. LEGO Universe had the same potential (IE, to be a kick-Megablocks game), but it would have to stand on its own.
The other thing I might suggest is more integration in the product line, or a more viral ad campaign. If I hadn't been involved with LEGO Universe, I wouldn't know anything about it beyond the fact that it was a LEGO MMO video game.
I'd love to see, say, some LEGO sets based on the storyline to help bring in customers-- and no, I don't think the rocketship really counted towards it. It DESPERATELY needed character minifigs whose story you might want to learn. Effectively, the rocketship set did the opposite. You wanted to buy the set if you played the game, because the rocketship was familiar to you from the game. If, instead, you wanted to buy LEGO universe because you played with the toys, *that's* a way to get it more profitable.
Similarly, you've got other campaigns, like Bionicle, which was introduced slowly via online Flash applications, and slowly unveiled itself with comic books and other media. It brought you into the story, which in turn made you want to buy the product. Or "I Am George", which had a great (albeit small) campaign on Facebook.
Anyway, I never really got that sense from LU. Their "hook" to pull you in was to give you free, but limited access to the game. I would have loved to see it expand to ... something else more substantial.
DaveE