Last summer, LEGO announced that they were going to put LEGO VIDIYO on pause and reassess the theme (see: Update on the Future of LEGO VIDIYO) and then relaunch it in 2023. However, last week, LEGO released another announcement stating that they decided to retire the theme for good.
As you probably know already, LEGO VIDIYO was developed in collaboration with Universal Music Group and combined physical LEGO elements with augmented reality to make music videos. The first wave included small sets called BeatBoxes and collectible minifigures – both with printed 2×2 tiles (called BeatBits) that could be scanned by the LEGO VIDIYO app. The second wave featured larger building sets, more printed tiles, and wacky characters. While the nicely designed minifigures, unique elements, and printed tiles were appreciated, the app was buggy, the pricing excessive, and the theme provided little in terms of traditional building experience. Below is the latest official statement made by LEGO about their recent decision to retire the theme.
In July 2021 we decided to pause the LEGO VIDIYO roll-out to review performance and test new ideas. Through the extensive quantitative and qualitative research we have undertaken in the previous months, we have gained an enormous amount of learnings in terms of the music and content creation space and what it would take to succeed with the play experience, our go-to-market strategy in 2023, and not least how to build a sustainable business based on the VIDIYO experience.
Based on these insights we have decided to discontinue the physical VIDIYO products from January 31st, 2022 but will continue to support the app experience for another two years to serve those consumers who have bought the products.
We still see great potential in pursuing music as a passion point and we will take learnings from LEGO VIDIYO as we continue to explore future fluid play experiences.
It’s sad to see an interesting original theme go like this, but it’s understandable based on the weaknesses mentioned above. You can learn more about the LEGO VIDIYO theme via the links at the end of this post, and find the sets from the first and second wave at the LEGO VIDIYO section of the Online LEGO Shop.
What do you think? How do you like LEGO VIDIYO? Do you have any of the sets? Have you used the app? And what do you think about the discontinuation of the theme? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below!
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It’s been a while since I’ve seen something launch with so much company hype behind it, and crash so hard and so quickly. A bunch of people at Lego really believed in Vidiyo, and they were so, so wrong.
I know these things are focus-grouped and play-tested, so it really makes you wonder how they managed to maintain confidence in the Vidiyo play pattern. Maybe kids actually do enjoy it, but parents weren’t biting? They didn’t want to buy their kids Lego sets that are this dependent on screen usage? (Far beyond Hidden Side’s toy-screen interactions. Nexo Knights is more debatable, since that app was functionally a stand-alone game after scanning the icons off the toys. And BOTH of those lines were clearly cut short in their final year.)
Though frankly, I remember being pretty confused early on at what the app interactivity actually was. I don’t think I understood it fully until I watched a YouTube video review of it. So perhaps a lot of parents also just didn’t get what these were supposed to be, and therefore quickly ignored it.
And of course a big part of things was the blind-packed minifigures and the randomly packed “beat bits”. Maybe most kids don’t fall into the completionist “collect them ALL” trap, but I pretty much always have, so I HATE this stuff. Granted, it’s much easier to deal with the in eBay/Bricklink era. Toy companies keep doing it though, so it must generally be more a help than a hindrance to toy lines, or at least more neutral.
I maintain the biggest shame here is just how creative the Vidiyo minifigure designs were, and how that ended up being wasted effort.
Ray, yep, you summarized pretty well what went down with VIDIYO. I’m hoping that the minifig parts will reappear in other sets. Perhaps in the Collectible Minifigures series. They really are delightful! 🙂
Or as random parts in the Build-A-Minifigure bowls. There are hypotheses that Corona will become a regular seasonal flu around late 2022-early 2023, so Lego might dare put up the pre-Covid system of rummaging back again into the shops, I guess…
It might till be slightly unhygienic, but I miss the experience…
Yeah, I miss the experience too! The closest LEGO store to me is 2 hours away, but the couple of times a year I go there is always a highlight. Sigh…
The main problem was likely Lego charging a premium for an under-tested, buggy app.
It’s a shame the minifig parts from the second series likely would cost a small fortune to get now, though..
There is a discussion on the LAN about LEGO’s continuing failure with apps. They keep releasing half-baked apps for some reason…
Yeah, it’s strange. For the largest toy manufacturer in the world, they appear as some stumbling old men that’s generally out of touch with the modern age… =/
I really wish they had released the second minifigure series in the U.S. because those looked awesome! Even with the difficulty of getting a complete set, I would have gone after them.
I really liked the theme of the minifigures and sets. They just needed to make them more like Hidden Side, where the sets were fun to build and play with outside of the app.
A lot of wasted potential here. I have no confidence that LEGO will learn from this at all.
They seem to be pretty rare in Europe, too, as to my understanding…
A Hidden Side approach could have worked, if the price levels weren’t much higher than regular sets…
I love love love love the app it’s so awesome and I love the characters and the stages you can build