A very surprising piece of news that came out earlier this week is that LEGO will be making construction sets based on the Overwatch video game by Activision Blizzard. There are several reasons why this news is such a big deal, so let’s discuss. 🙂
First of all, here is the excerpt related to the new license from the original press-release (find full press-release at BusinessWire): “Set for ongoing growth with a slate of world-class entertainment properties, Activision Blizzard Consumer Products Group (ABCPG) arrives at Licensing Expo 2018 with an all-star roster of licensing and retail partners. Through gameplay, film and television content, esports events and consumer products, Activision and Blizzard Entertainment are creating depth, breadth and longevity of engagement around their franchises and across platforms. A year into the group’s formation, ABCPG is successfully delivering against the company’s franchises, including Blizzard’s Overwatch and Activision’s Call of Duty, among others. The merchandising program for Overwatch is significantly expanding. Hasbro has been awarded the master toy license for the franchise with plans for a wide range of play experiences including a NERF product line, games and more. Additionally, LEGO Group has plans for multiple Overwatch building sets across various price points.”
In case you are not familiar with Overwatch, it is a very popular team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game that was released in 2016 and is available for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. Players are assigned into two teams of six, with each player selecting from a roster of characters known as “heroes”. Players on a team work together to secure and defend control points on a map or escort a payload across the map in a limited amount of time. Players gain cosmetic rewards that do not affect gameplay, such as character skins and victory poses, as they play the game. After initial purchase, updates for the game are free, with the only cost being microtransactions to earn additional cosmetic rewards. Overwatch has more than 40 million players and is considered one of the best multiplayer games with numerous awards. I have included a couple of trailers here for the game so you get a sense of what it looks like.
LEGO picking up a first-person shooter video game is a huge surprise. To date, they have stayed away from video games in general, with the exception of Minecraft. Even LEGO Angry Birds sets were only released after the film (which was based on the original game). In addition, games and films wholly centered on shooting was always against LEGO’s policies. While Overwatch is a cartoony game with unrealistic weapons, it’s still all about shooting with not much else going on. The game doesn’t have any iconic locations or vehicles, although there are some mechs LEGO could potentially use for building sets.
Another reason this collaboration is a surprise is because Overwatch characters don’t naturally lend themselves to be made into traditional minifigs due to their diverse sizes and shapes. Some LEGO fans believe that LEGO may use the large buildable figure system for the characters, or even the LEGO BrickHeadz standard, as demonstrated by LEGO fan 0nuku in the picture below.
Mega Construx (formerly Mega Bloks) has been a long time maker of construction toys for Blizzard’s other properties like Call of Duty and Destiny. Mega’s micro action-figures for these lines are amazing, and a much better fit then what LEGO could produce. While the press-release states that Mega will continue making Call of Duty and Destiny construction sets, some LEGO fans wonder if there is a possibility that LEGO may pick up other Blizzard licenses in the future. On the other hand, it is also possible that Mega will get the Overwatch license if the LEGO sets don’t perform well. This wouldn’t be the first time when a licensed property gets passed from Mega to LEGO and vice versa (i.e. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spongebob SquarePants).
While some LEGO fans are super excited that the Overwatch license will open the door for other video game-based LEGO sets from Blizzard like Call of Duty, Destiny, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, etc., or even from other gaming companies, others are concerned that LEGO is straying away from their standards by collaborating with first-person shooter games, and releasing too many licensed themes in general. Time will tell how all of this will play out…
What do you think? Do you play Overwatch? How do you like the game? And what kinds of sets do you think LEGO will release? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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I don’t see how Lego is going to handle this, but what I’m most excited about it what other game licenses Lego may get in the future either from Blizzard, or Nintendo, and other game franchises.
I would love to play overwatch, but it costs too much money and I don’ t have a pc yet.
It’s well worth the cost once you get a PC, don’t bother with the GOTY unless you think you’ll collect skins, but atm I don’t even use anything from the pack. The game is still very active and growing and I’d recommend it strongly.
The main problem is that I don’t play so many triple A games, so I am building a indie-esque PC. It will be able to handle some triple A games probably, but I don’t know which.
Here is a link:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/FjynLJ
As you can see it doesn’t even has a graphics card, but I will be dropping in another €500,- for upgrading/adding graphics card and more RAM after 2 to 3 years…
It Reminds me of when ( growing up ) you see your favorite cartoon show and a company decides to turn the characters into action figures. It’s not a new method in the franchise world . In fact , companies are still doing it only this time toy have tapped into the video game world. Interesting idea and possibly it would bring the younger kids back into collecting Lego sets again. Reason being , is that a lot of the younger kids have gone back to playing video games and some have lose interest in creating or building Lego sets.
I’m intrigued! Any idea when we should expect these sets?
Not sure. There was no timeline mentioned in the press-release. My guess would be end of year at the earliest, more probably next year.
Yes! Awesome!!! Cant’ wait for these! When are they coming out?
Not sure, but I will be personally keeping an eye on this and will let you know if I hear anything more. 🙂
I admit to being disappointed in Lego for going this route. I’m not fond of first-person shooter games. I’ve been pleased that Lego encourages other types of play and that I’ve been able to keep my grandsons from shooting games at our house. Maybe, though, there will be more new and interesting pieces, and I can bring in the Overwatch sets and just take them apart for pieces.
Yeah, you are not the only one who is concerned about this direction. We shall see how it works out. LEGO sometimes takes risks, and some of them work out (i.e. LEGO Friends) and some of them don’t (i.e. bringing back Bionicle). I’m sure they will be closely monitoring all aspects of this new venture and will adjust as necessary. In worst case scenario they will abandon the direction, but we will at least get some interesting parts.
Hmmm, I’m not a great fan of the FPS genre, myself, and my favorite Blizzard game is probably still The Lost Vikings (with TLV 2, and Warcraft 1 and 2 coming in second)… But then, I’m an old fogey…
Holy crap! My 10yo son, who is a huge Lego builder is also a hige Overwatch fan. Win-win!
Better be out by XMas!
Christmas would be awesome! 😀
*Record scratch*
*Does double take*
NANI?????
Seriously, I did not see this coming, nor would I have guessed it in a thousand years.
Yeah, it’s pretty surprising, isn’t it?! 😀