- Lego has confirmed that it will never go ‘digital only’ and has maintained a focus on linking digital creations to its physical brick products
- The company has teased an NFT collection in 2021, but it has not materialized
- Lego has emphasized a hybrid model of physical and digital play to align with its core values
Toymaker Lego has said that it will never go ‘digital only’ and will always link non-physical creations back to its famous brick-based products. The company teased an NFT collection back in 2021 but this never came to fruition, and the company’s Chief Executive, Niels B Christiansen, has said that it is focused on a hybrid model of physical and digital play. This could still mean a future in the NFT/metaverse world for the legendary brickmaker, with physical models factored in to keep the company ethos alive.
One Toe in the Real World
Lego has famously become more digitally orientated in recent years, with well-received movies, TV shows, videogames and more allowing it to branch out, but each venture has been connected to a series of physical models.
With the rise in popularity of virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), metaverse, and NFTs, however, one might be tempted to think that Lego would abandon this strict policy to take advantage of these new mediums. Christiansen told the BBC that it has no plans to do this, however:
We won’t do something on the digital side that is totally detached from the physical side. We’ll actually try to make that seamless with, of course, a lot of emphasis on the physical element. We’ve had the same family owners for 90 years. The values and the intentions of getting Lego play to kids, is just the same.
Christiansen added, “We know that kids are on screen, and we are uniquely positioned to bridge that gap. We call it hybrid play. We can be in video games, but we can relate that to the real world. We can even have physical versions of the play you do digitally, and the other way around.”
No NFTs
Christiansen’s comments suggest that Lego could branch out into the world of VR/AR to tie in with new products, and could even be tempted to venture into the metaverse. It seems, however, that one area the company probably won’t be looking into is NFTs, with a lone (now deleted) tweet from March 2021 not resulting in anything:
Still, the prospect of a Lego-themed metaverse is still not off the table, with Christiansen talking up the possibility last year. Such a move would undoubtedly be as well designed as the company’s brick models, which will, of course, come as part of the package.
