The imminent release of LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has kept both LEGO fans and Star Wars lovers in a state of keen anticipation. The two properties have felt like a natural fit for so long, it’s hard to remember a time when they weren’t together. However, not only were the two a comparatively late marriage, but Star Wars might just have saved the LEGO brand.
Business Insider details the broader strokes of the brand-saving match-up. In the early 2000s, LEGO was in serious financial trouble and unable to account for the rising costs of its products. The first generation of toy designers had stepped down, and their successors had little knowledge of the product they were working on. One of the few bright spots in their sales line was a series of licensed Star Wars sets, which were introduced in 1999 in the wake of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. The LEGO video game arrived in 2005, just after Jorgen Vig Knudstorp took over the company and began turning its prospects around. The game was a massive hit and became an instant classic, prompting LEGO to never look back.
The first LEGO Star Wars game was an ideal product for that place and time, despite being released to a fair amount of skepticism. In retrospect, it possessed all of the elements for fun, repeatable play. The template entailed various characters collecting coins and performing tasks in movie-appropriate settings rendered entirely as LEGO bricks. It provided a wide variety of gameplay -- from puzzle-solving to combat -- and LEGO's added charm gave the video game the unique feeling of playing with physical bricks.
Perhaps most importantly, LEGO Star Wars brought a satirical attitude to Star Wars that was gentle and loving but with a noticeable snap. This attribute made it more than just another game with a generic Star Wars skin. LEGO Star Wars felt like a part of the greater Star Wars universe. Its creators were clearly Star Wars fans, and their affection for the property showed in every scene. As it turns out, that love came along at just the right time.
The game was released the same year Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith hit theaters. The movie was a tremendous success, like all Star Wars movies, but it was also the last one on the schedule. That left a hole the freshly minted LEGO video game could fill, and the comparative dearth of new Star Wars material turned its repeat playability into an even bigger asset.
More important, the game was family-friendly, which came as a relief to parents who had to navigate the downbeat tone (and PG-13 rating) of Revenge of the Sith. In contrast, LEGO Star Wars upbeat tone and lack of violence (characters turn into LEGO coins when they die) found a ready audience and did so without losing its appeal to older players. The action sequences were dynamic and exciting, and players who weren’t video game fans could still get a nostalgic thrill through the LEGO concept.
The result of marrying LEGO and Star Wars was a massive success and served as the template for the numerous LEGO games that followed. The partnership also yielded a very successful line of animated specials, which continues to this day. However, it wouldn’t have happened without Star Wars and the franchise is all the better for it.
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