How games helped rejuvenate LEGO

Toy manufacturer LEGO says that video games have helped the firm beat the economic downturn.

Traveller’s Tales’ games – which have included LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones, LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Batman and LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean – have been regular best sellers since 2005.

LEGO’s VP and general manager for UK and Ireland Drew Brazer said: If I go back to 2008 and 2009, that’s when our business really started to take off. And we weren’t exactly sure why, so we did some consumer research to understand this. What’s really explaining this meteoric rise in sales?

One of the key factors was the synergy between the LEGO video games and the products. Boys were playing these games, engaged in LEGO, seeing LEGO products come to life in the video game, and it created tremendous interest for them to go out and buy the physical product. So it’s been great.”

LEGO Lord of the Rings is due on November 23rd. LEGO City Undercover is set for release exclusively on Wii U and 3DS.