LEGO Universe to close in 2012

[Aliencat]

For those of you who believe the world will end in 2012... well... LEGO Universe sure will, see this article on brickjournal.com

http://www.brickjournal.com/view/article/82/

Online game will close on January 31, 2012. The LEGO Group’s digital offerings will continue to develop over the coming years.

Apparently, 115 people working for LU now, will lose their jobs

[Lobberuno]

I just played this weekend as free account the Lego Universe for try, I think is a good game... also I thought it was to going neverendless, but the time has come for it.

I believe that a free membership can be exchanged for VIP points or purchase points (when somebody realize a purchase, or by using a code that TLG could put inside the Lego boxes). Maybe can be a solution for employees, Lego and us.

[klorox]

I really hope they make it on wii. I have never played universe but have always wanted to . It could use the internet access thing on wii (wi-fi I think? ) anyway, I hope that they make it on wii.

[Bluesecrets]

I really hope they make it on wii. I have never played universe but have always wanted to . It could use the internet access thing on wii (wi-fi I think? ) anyway, I hope that they make it on wii.

I'm confused. They said they were closing it, and laying off their workers. What makes you think they are going to do anything else with this game?

[andhe]

I really hope they make it on wii. I have never played universe but have always wanted to . It could use the internet access thing on wii (wi-fi I think? ) anyway, I hope that they make it on wii.

I'm confused. They said they were closing it, and laying off their workers. What makes you think they are going to do anything else with this game?

He got confused, I think what you meant to say was 'unfortunately as the game is closing it's unlikely that it will expand to other formats'.

I heard that the employees will be relocated within the company, TLG seem to be quite good at that.

[Forestboy]

Ouch, this really stinks. I was a beta tester for LU and my brother and I really seemed to like it, and from what I heard at Brickworld 2011, everyone seemed to have good things to say about it. It's really a shame that it was in development for so long, and is closing. Maybe having a free-to-play model with micro-transactions would have helped, since that seems to be wildly popular with MMOs today. But, we'll never know.

Best of luck to the employees,
~FB~

[theboywarrior]

In my opinion, the free-to-play was the downfall of LU. The effect the game cards had was canceled out by the free-to-play zone, and would have saved the game if it weren't for the F2P. Problem was, it was so darn fun anyway, people just stuck with the free zone.

[architect]

The problems are fourfold:

1. Parents want to purchase a product once for their children.
2. The art direction was outsourced and did not look enough like LEGO.
3. All LEGO video games that do not have a licensed line (StarWars, Batman, etc) tie-in have eventually failed.
4. From the beginning with wooden toys, LEGO has always been about a tactile play experience. They should stick with what they do the best.

Some of the LEGO Ambassadors have been telling TLG these things since the project was in beta several years ago. Overall the project had some merit in terms of research and development. But one wonders if these resources would have been better spent strengthening the core product lines and brick quality.

Ben Ellermann

[klorox]

The problems are fourfold:

1. Parents want to purchase a product once for their children.
2. The art direction was outsourced and did not look enough like LEGO.
3. All LEGO video games that do not have a licensed line (StarWars, Batman, etc) tie-in have eventually failed.
4. From the beginning with wooden toys, LEGO has always been about a tactile play experience. They should stick with what they do the best.

Some of the LEGO Ambassadors have been telling TLG these things since the project was in beta several years ago. Overall the project had some merit in terms of research and development. But one wonders if these resources would have been better spent strengthening the core product lines and brick quality.

Ben Ellermann

I liked the look of the minifigs armors weapons and items in the game! and like ole kirk said: "only the best is good enough" and I think that LEGO Universe was one of the bests LEGO ever came up with!

[Lobberuno]

[..]LEGO has always been about a tactile play experience. They should stick with what they do the best. [...]

A touch-game (for Ipad, ipod, touchscreen-capable, kinect, etc) can be a good experience game, by buiding something with your own hands, and then playing with them in a pre-builded story or a own story.

[davee123]

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-ass 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