Lego Reveals Plans to Collaborate on the Metaverse with Epic Games
The Danish toy manufacturer Lego, best known for its brightly colored plastic building blocks, plans to expand into the metaverse with new forms of entertainment.
By forming a strategic alliance with Epic Games, the developer of the Unreal game engine, the firm hopes to expand into new digital markets and further boost its market share and growth trajectory.
The Digital World Initiative from Lego
According to the Financial Times, Epic Games, the manufacturers of Fortnite, and Lego, the makers of interlocking bricks, are collaborating on a metaverse project that will be unveiled soon. This decision would make the company’s future activities toward building an online presence in virtual worlds and attracting customers from digital marketplaces clearer.
The goal of the company’s strategy is to continue expanding into new markets by selling Lego toys, which will assist customers in recognizing the brand in digital settings. The Chief Executive Officer of Lego, Niels Christiansen, gave a presentation in which he discussed the path the business follows to achieve this new goal. Christiansen stated: ” We know exactly how to attract more people into the Lego world in our stores. We are working round the clock to see that we give users the same Lego brand universe experience online.”
Lego had a substantial growth for the last year, with profits rising by 17% relative to 2021. This increase was partly driven by the robust sales in Western Europe and the United States. The growth in retail sales was 12% in 2022.
An Emphasis on Online Communities and the Metaverse
Although other businesses, like Microsoft and Tencent, are gradually pulling their funds away from metaverse projects, Lego is continuously focusing on the goal of developing digital landscapes for children.
Earlier this year, the brand announced that it had invested over $2 billion in Epic Games in collaboration with Sony to create its own metaverse platform to bring children closer to the brand in kid-friendly virtual environments.
Since May, when it announced plans to increase the number of software developers, the firm has rapidly expanded its workforce to produce its own digital experiences as it shifts its focus from treating its physical and digital operations as separate entities.
Christiansen discussed the strength of the company’s digital drive at the time, stating: “In this digital journey, we are significantly enhancing and expanding our skills, and we are insourcing functions that consultants formerly performed… That is now our largest investment.”
On the other hand, the firm has a positive outlook on the industry’s prospects and has been working on expanding its physical shop footprint; it plans to establish 155 additional locations before the end of this year.
This collaboration might pave the way for a Lego sandbox game to beat other popular creative platforms like “Roblox” and “Minecraft,” thanks to Epic’s Unreal Engine and expertise in game development. “Fortnite” has proven to be a huge hit with young people, generating Epic a revenue of over $9 billion last year.
