Death of a Game: Lego Universe

what happens when the biggest toy maker in  the world the lego group decides to bring   their blocks to the virtual space and attempt an  mmorpg of their own well if i'm talking about it   in this series we kind of know that that didn't  go according to plan it only took about a year to   face its demise because as soon as lego universe  launched developed by net devil and published   by the lego group it was gone released back in  october of 2010 lego universe was an innovative   crafting and youngling focused mmo not unlike  minecraft that would later launch and shock the   world just after lego universe was announced to  be shutting down minecraft and roblox both would   change the gaming space entirely so why was lego  universe despite being first and innovative in his   own right unable to share similar success and why  just one year after launch was the title shuttered   not many mysteries are as short yet  interesting as lego universe i look   forward to uncovering the clues and evidence  concerning the biggest contributing factors   for the death of a game lego universe grab  your legos and let's build the case detectives thank you to opera gx for sponsoring this video  opera gx is a browser made especially for gamers   with the number of features that make it easier  to navigate the web while you game with gx control   you can help enhance gaming performance while your  browser is open as the panel lets users limit cpu   or ram usage you can also limit the bandwidth to  help gain performance in games or streams with   the network limiter feature the accessibility  sidebar also makes it to where you can easily   chat and browse multiple social media channels  simultaneously such as whatsapp telegram and   discord keeping all updates in one easy to see  spot you can log into any of these right from   the sidebar the gx player is a similar thing this  time with your favorite streaming platforms such   as spotify apple music and youtube music you can  log into three of them from the sidebar directly   make sure to check out the link in the description  or top comment to download opera gx for free opera   gx is also available on mobile with gx mobile  which can be connected to the desktop version   too thanks again to opera gx for sponsoring this  video let's get back to the video detectives the story begins far back in 2002 where an early  team within the lego group an interlocking toy   company from denmark now the largest toy  company in the world valued at 6 billion   would begin building an online infrastructure  this online infrastructure dubbed project arena   was heavily inspired by mmos that had risen to  popularity at the time by 2002 lego group had   put out easily a dozen video games but their  most successful title wouldn't come until 2005   utilizing one of the biggest ips in the world star  wars people within lego group were interested in   mmos but the company's lack of big success  in video games and unfamiliarity with mmos   meant that they were hesitant to get involved  early on in 2004 we saw the effects of this   slow movement when a team of eight developers  began heavily researching mmos within lego group   of the eight developers was mark hanson the  game's later senior director and ronnie schreier   who was the director of development this led  directly to the creation of a system used to take   bricks from the real world and digitize them to be  used in the virtual one the lego digital designer   that still is in existence today it wasn't  until lego group would face immense success   from their star wars lego game that gaming would  be taken seriously within the company and thus an   online lego game was given tacit approval for  pre-production lego group would begin sorting   through 50 different developers looking for the  right one to work on an online lego game narrowing   down in the end two companies in particular funcom  and netdevil funcom just off the rocky start of   anarchy online which would later become one of  the pioneer greatest sci-fi mmos of all time   net devil was fresh off of the title that they  did by teaming up with none other than korean   developer publisher nc soft auto assault both of  these titles were covered on the death of a game   series but both for very different reasons anarchy  online faced that sort of natural cause sort of   death while net devil's auto assault barely even  lasted a year and was seen by most as a dud at   worse in an interesting concept at best however  net devil would actually win out the battle of the   lego contract reportedly due to their experience  and excitement with the project to be fair to lego   group net devil's title ottawa saw it hadn't  yet failed because it didn't launch until 2006   though was shuttered later in 2007. if it's not  clear i'm slightly calling into question the pick   of netdevil in the first place it's because sure  i wasn't there behind the closed doors to see all   of the pitches including net devils it must have  been a hell of a pitch for funcom a nordic company   to lose to netdevil who hadn't even launched  successful mmo yet the strong faith in net   devil based on experience just doesn't make that  much sense to me though unless the idea is that we   can't find any actual mmo developers so let's just  settle for ones that worked on one that failed problems for the online lego game would  begin as early as pre-production due to   a massive time difference between the lego  group and denmark and net devil in colorado   this wouldn't be that big of a deal for most  developer publisher relations but lego group   wanted to be involved in the development thus  complicating things the lego game's official   name would be finalized june 2007 lego universe  with the targeted q4 2008 release date in tow this   would be a difficult thing to deliver on though  as we would later find out in a tele article   concerning lego universe it was stated by 2008  that lego universe had been in development for   two years but was having issues of identity and  net devil knowing what the game was supposed to be   if that wasn't bad enough net devil in  the process of developing lego universe   had started to go bankrupt i'm assuming that  otto assault failure in 2007 didn't help either   this meant that they had to open up to the  possibilities of being acquired by another   company in order to get funding and continue  development coming quietly in the summer of 2008   was an acquisition that wouldn't be announced  officially until the spring of the next year   net devil would be acquired by venture capital  powered gazillion entertainment according to the   net devil team this acquisition would prove to be  quite a disaster in the end the sale would lead to   more slowing in the game's development and eroded  the trust of the new owners gazillion was now in   charge too and very likely was getting more and  more control over their project lego universe   itself this is the most disastrous decision the  lego group could have ever made said mark hansen   the senior director with the lego group that's  because gazillion was primarily a venture capital   developer which meant that they kind of make games  to make money not that everyone else doesn't but   you get the drift but it wasn't as simple as just  lego groups shouldn't have lost trust in net devil   either when net devil was close to being shuttered  without gazillion stepping in in the first place   this meant that without the acquisition problems  or not lego universe according to key developers   wouldn't have even made it to the finish  line but it's not just a devil or the good   guy situation here either because lego group did  report that they seemed aimless and needed help lego universe hosted a friends and family alpha  december 8th 2009 letting the game be playable   by others for the first time lego universe was  targeting the younger audience the same audience   who primarily had legos purchased for them this  provided quite the interesting predicament as mmos   so far had been marketed towards older players  this isn't to say that younger players won't or   don't like mmos but it meant that if you wanted to  attract a new audience to a genre it was going to   take a lot of onboarding to do such and you had to  be careful not to appeal too much to a brand new   audience in the mmo genre unless you angered the  standard mmo audience that already existed there   it's difficult to market an mmo to children let  alone went with a subscription fee which had been   a big barrier at the time it's hard to make money  from an audience who doesn't have any money that   requires a constant consistent purchase like a  subscription fee barriers to entry make emma most   difficult to play for the younger audience lego  universe would announce its beta in march set   for the summer of 2010 becoming playable to those  who utilized file planet to download the game oh   file planet the memories that's pretty much how i  played so many different mmos pc gamer would post   positive beta impressions concerning lego universe  where they would talk about really enjoying the   game and the diverse activities that the game  had you participate in despite it being so   kid-friendly pc gamer would discuss two different  themed levels or worlds as they would be dubbed   in lego universe that provided unique gameplay  experiences and feels while not a ton of detail   had been released concerning what the gameplan  lego universe would actually consist of what was   shown to those who tested alpha or closed beta  had been positively received thus far the real   test would be if lego universe could thrive post  launch and the fateful months that would follow   as players get more and more time to dig into  the title as is standard for any mmo of the time   lego universe would showcase a fancy new e3  trailer june 17 2010 showing off what looked to   be a world story set for the game where a team  of legos are in search for the essence of pure   imagination that goes horribly wrong and the  result is a super wacky and creative game that   allows players to essentially build and bring  to life their very own lego figures meanwhile   the same month as lego universe was looking very  much impressive on the biggest stage in gaming   e3 minecraft which needs no introduction was  quietly entering its alpha and it wouldn't be   quiet for much longer minecraft was already  generating immense buzz and hype before even   reaching its beta and whether or not the lego  universe team wanted it or not they were set on   a crash course with minecraft and we all have  the glory of hindsight to know how that went   after numerous delays and issues behind the  scenes lego universe after four to five years   of development would launch october 26 2010  globally lego universe would be charging a   box price of forty dollars with an additional sub  fee as typical for the time in mmos of ten dollars   lego universe would score a 70 out of  a hundred on aggregate review website   metacritic from 11 different critics with  a similar review score amongst the players   while a 70 isn't outright impressive it wasn't a  bad score and certainly gave the team around lego   universe something to work with theoretically but  the reviews on lego universe are within the first   month which means they could have been singing  a different tune quite soon after you can't   ever judge the success of an mmo based on launch  alone ign and eurogamer both however would score   lego universe a non-impressive 5 out of 10. ign  would state the lego universe was a fixer-upper   and needed a lot of work on the bugs present  in the game and a general lack of content ign   was positive about the sheer creativity possible  in lego universe though which included auto snap   building and free building which brought lego  creativity to the virtual space as promised   you could even customize your very own world which  is effectively instance player housing on steroids   because you could bring to life your creations  eurogamer would mimic the positives that ign   would state but were quite negative concerning the  actual core gameplay outside of the lego building   likening it to a ludicrous grind that leads to  nowhere the most damning part of the eurogamer   review however was concerning the lack of content  in lego universe according to eurogamer you could   complete half of the content in a single day  this was because the universe concept in lego   universe worlds or aka levels where players  could traverse through them despite how pretty   looking they were were constructed in a way  where they were nothing more than mid-sized   questing areas when compared to other mmos that  means that once you're out of the nimbus station   you have a tutorial world to visit and then two  other major worlds and that's it there weren't   any other worlds to really traverse to yet and  according to documents released after the fact   this was because the team behind lego universe  wanted to create a number of themed worlds to   flesh out the game but had difficulties creating  them due to time expectations from the lego group   a bunch of ideas but not a whole lot of  implementation in other words lego universe   wasn't blowing the doors off of the world just  yet but it was impressive especially for lego   fans it just clearly needed a little bit more  time in the oven and a bit more focus couple that   with a lackluster combat style that just seems  to blend action elements with the mmo elements   in a way that doesn't quite understand what's  going on it just misses the actual depth of an   mmo and its sheer options of ability and choice  if you're not a fan of the auto attack combat   style you had the limited options of additional  abilities being limited to well mostly four at   a time it felt like playing an incredibly paired  down mmo without the appropriate payout for such the work in progress success wasn't good enough  for the lego group however who reportedly   projected to have a hundred and eighty thousand  subscribers in actuality the game launched with 14   000 pre-orders and then plateaued at 38 000 copies  while those numbers aren't very impressive they   are certainly serviceable not all mmos started as  titans with hundreds of thousands of players and   you can always work to build that audience which  is the idea anyway right however lego group's   expectations were completely unreasonable they  wanted a developer whose previous history was a   failed mmo to beat the greatest mmos of all time  and secure 180 000 players at launch not even   everquest eve runescape or ultima online could get  numbers like that for a launch they must have been   hit by the wow bug but whatever it was it was bad  and unreasonable expectations that could doom a   project because you're going to pull the plug way  too soon mmos are long-term investments by nature   many charge monthly fees after all approaching  the mmo market with the idea of instant riches   is foolhardy and we have seen that time and time  again on this series these expectations would   prove to be critical as after launch news hit  the web that the original founders of net devil   had left the company and were no longer involved  in lego universe this included ryan seabury peter   grundy and scott brown whether it was the lack  of success or their growing poor relations with   gazillion both were crucial factors lego universe  losing the key developers originally involved   on the project such as the creative director  himself surely wasn't a good look for the game minecraft would enter beta december 2010 and  by this point the world couldn't keep quiet   about the game anymore minecraft unlike lego  universe was beauty and simplicity whereas   lego universe offered very advanced building  options and scripting patterns minecraft was   just about gathering materials in a voxel visual  style and building out structures or surviving   the harsh environment you could create complex  structures sure or just simple stuff in minecraft   the gameplay and building were intertwined and  weren't separated completely like in lego universe   the simple visual style made minecraft playable  on basically any machine meanwhile lego universe   despite its simple lego visuals was actually  quite complex and utilized the game brio engine   lego universe was only playable on higher end  machines too which would mean that the younger   audience it was trying to attract now needed to  have fancy computers and convince their parents   to pay a sub fee these are some rather large  barriers to entry when compared to minecraft's   low box price no sub fee and the ability to be  played on a toaster lego universe wasn't a bad   game by any stretch but it was going up against a  title that would go on to revolutionize gaming all   the while doing so with such beautiful simplicity  mmos already have a tough barrier to entry coming not as a surprise to those watching this  video but as i'm surprised about everybody else   involved into the project up until the morning of  was massive layoffs at netdevil amounting to 20   of their workforce being terminated  employees found out via a facebook posting   which is just gross more news would come out  of the affair with news that gazillion would   be selling their development stake of lego  universe to the lego group thus the layoffs   were described as positive since the original  developers were mostly rehired at the lego   group to continue to develop the game development  teams do often shrink following a launch but this   was more than just that there was definitely  some drama between net devil and gazillion   and in the end the lego group mostly took  netdevil's side perhaps now with these things   settled the game could get some much needed  focus and love to get back into a better shape   another of the large issues plaguing lego universe  was how much it cost like we covered with free   realms a game we also featured on the death of  a game series it's hard to get kids to pay money   monthly to play a game or any game really they  have to ask their parents to use their credit   card and a constant charge versus a one-and-done  or a free-to-play approach is just a harder sell   and trust me i can say that from experience not  only did you have to buy lego universe for 40   though that price would quickly drop down to  much lower you still had to pay a monthly fee   on top of that which is a tough ask in 2011 as  the standards for such had risen so highly in   order for lego universe to remain competitive and  get any audience they were going to have to change   their approach to pricing like many other mmos of  the time the move to free to play was an option   to increase player count and thus revenue lego  universe was looking to share some of that success   the titles like city of heroes swotore and lord  of the rings made from going into free to play the   only problem was they didn't do enough research to  make sure that possibility was a reality instead   what players got was a very limited trial account  that you needed to pay ten dollars to then upgrade   so for ten dollars a month you could get access  to the five worlds included into the game   and any new content set to release you don't  need to look far to know that this isn't what   other mmos were offering when they went free to  play instead they were offering near complete   gaming experiences that offered some more content  in piecemeal fashion that you could purchase or   unlock with the sub fee sometimes the sub fee  was just a bonus thing too and not required   lego universe being free to play is more  accurately described as getting a free   trial and the success was immediate and obviously  helped lego universe reach 2.3 million players and   a hundred thousand subscriptions in tow it just  wasn't enough success not for lego group and the   heavy expectations placed on lego universe imagine  had they actually gone fully free to play though   what those numbers could have looked like lego  universe was just an online title with some key   issues that needed ironing out or more importantly  the time to do such perhaps lego universe could   take their newfound success from the business  model switch and parlay it into some more   countdown to the power of the nexus force treated  much like an expansion added a plethora of new   special teaser classes and new missions including  dailies and 75 new achievements what the new   update didn't bring however was more substantial  content in the way of new worlds raids or dungeons   as most common in mmos instead the lego universe  team focused on content in already discovered   areas which both aren't as fun or impactful and  at the end of the day the game's name is lego   universe it's clearly a game about adding new  worlds to traverse and explore with new worlds   and zones being added the different unique lego  themes was one of the strengths of lego universe   there just wasn't enough of it for comfort and  it's definitely not like lego is lacking in   worlds and universes to explore having had dozens  of high-profile collaborations with the likes of   star wars harry potter and much more they designed  one of the worlds to be literally a hub world   meaning that you could join other worlds from it  there's just only five of them to choose from and   that's probably one of the included ones that's  just not enough content to charge a subscription   fee for lego group might have had some heavy  expectations of lego universe but they hadn't   put in the heavy support to match whether it be  marketing or financial help until september 2011   according to the lego universe team lego group  waiting a year to fully support their first online   project was puzzling but their help was finally  coming in the way of a ninja merchandise push   by the fall of 2011. but would lego group provide  enough support long enough to see lego universe   grow to something more don't you hate it when  the next scene answers last scene's question   well sadly within two months lego group had seen  enough according to the lego group they would   be shuttering lego universe january of the next  year citing a lack of subscribers as the reason   but the story wasn't that black and  white the subscriber numbers were there   they just weren't impressive enough this is super  common of corporations with no mmo experience to   expect a return on their investment immediately  in a long-term focused investment market   but lego universe wasn't a bad game in fact it  had a resub rate of 87 percent which meant that   it most definitely had a core audience and was  managing to hold on to them quite well content   problems or not lego group pulling the plug on  lego universe was nothing short of premature   much like their rushed launch lego universe just  tragically wasn't given enough time to turn things   around or build on their momentum lego universe  would officially shut down january 31st 2012   just a few months after the launch of minecraft  which would go on to sell over 238 million copies   yeah you heard that number right meanwhile  roblox a similar game we also mentioned with   similar scripting elements present in lego  universe would sell 176 million copies ouch six years later in jorgen vig nutstorp  the ceo of lego corp would say in 2018   that he considered it one of his greatest  fiascos pulling the plug on lego universe   too soon lego universe being shut down right  before the big minecraft and roblox boom   was a tragedy for lego and fans alike and  the damn ceo even acknowledges it right   because with how business works those two titles  greatly succeeding would have only helped lego   universe which offered a different experience by  greatly expanding the market size in a weird way   lego universe having launched unfinished was  too late and early at the same time to see the   market explode to the levels it later did and to  have enough time in the oven to last post launch like most mmo projects we cover on the death of a  game series when developers and publishers fail to   keep the servers alive for players to enjoy which  is kind of promised on the agreement they make   when you buy your game players in the community  are there to save the day if they only got more   official support to do such like star wars  galaxy's emulator server or project 1999 lego   universe dark flame and emulator would allow lego  universe to be playable online yet again though   the dark flame team would reach out to lego group  concerning the legality of running such a server   and in the end the communication would go dark  until abruptly dark flames team would announce   that on october 2021 they would be releasing the  source code for their emulator but discontinuing   the work on the project while it was sad news  that the negotiations didn't go too well at least   the darkflame team had given the source code to  the community so they could still host their own   private servers of lego universe and take place  in a part of history that was abruptly cut short   it's not like legos aren't still worth billions  of dollars right there's still an audience   that's why allowing the community to continue to  run the servers makes sense from a perspective of   art preservation which we should all care greatly  about you can stick lego universe in a museum sure   but without playable online servers you can never  actually experience what it means to play the game   and what it meant to play the game even if there's  not an official supported capacity to still play   lego universe for those watching at least you  still get a chance to go formulate your thoughts   and enjoy the title if you missed it  in the short window that it lasted   with lego universe officially shut down that means  we've reached the end of our timeline detectives   and thus edged closer to solving this case for  good but before we get to our final deduction   there's still some loosens i need to tie up  concerning lego universe and the reasons it   failed as an mmo something i discovered that was  quite shocking about lego universe was how much   money was spent on the game and how much of it  was dedicated to child safety chat controls alone   lego universe had an impressive budget of  125 million and i want you detectives to get   your guesses ready to imagine how much of that  was spent on child safety controls any guesses   20 yep 25 million of the budget was spent  on making the game accessible for children   the target audience through otter word  filtering moderation and more the system   that the lego universe team developed to curb  harassment and worse was incredibly successful   and incredibly expensive and time-consuming  thus it was a significant additional factor   into the complications of developing lego  universe and thus why it suffered in some way   while i enjoy lego growing up and still marvel  at the things that people are able to create   with them as an adult aka yes i never grew  up i wasn't much of a lego builder savant   nope i preferred watching back to back  episodes of sherlock and murder she wrote   on tv instead which is why i'm here to do what  i'm actually good at solve a case so if you're   hearing that music it means that that's tom's  way of letting everyone know that's exactly   what we're going to do right now for the final  deduction on the death of a game lego universe   not enough content required high-end machines the  game design just wasn't focused enough charged a   sub in box fee while attempting to attract  a younger audience strenuous relationship   with their parent company gazillion expensive  and time intensive child safe protocols crazy   high expectations without the support to match  beat the out by minecraft not enough subscribers the thought of being able to take everything that  you want in the lego universe no pun intended and   make it come to life in a children's friendly mmo  is surely an impressive thought or vision even   still today as lego still sits atop the biggest  toy company list the lego foray into the virtual   realm might not have been the success that was  expected but it was a success nonetheless in a   multitude of ways helping lego blocks reach the  virtual space in a way that they had never before   has greatly increased the ability for all lego  enjoyers around the world to make better lego   models so if you're a lego fan and never heard  of lego universe or don't care about it well you   kind of should while titles like minecraft and  roblox would have their titan levels of success   lego universe would go on to be remembered  as the other build em up kid focus game   that could have been something had it been given  time a fateful tale of what could have been thanks   for watching detectives built over a thousand  years it was meant to be a tower of dreams you

Channel: nerdSlayer Studios

Views: 424,538

Keywords: gaming, videogames, video, game, multiplayer, online, massive, new, hd, nerdslayer, nerdslaying, nerd, slayer, slaying, critical, analysis, content, opinion, critique, life, of, death, character, look, back, at, mmo, mmorpg, n.s., lego, universe, lego star wars

Id: cvBa6Dcws-4

Length: 26min 42sec (1602 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 28 2022