Earlier today, the LEGO Group has announced a renewed partnership with China’s and the world’s biggest game company. In a recent press release, this renewed LEGO-Tencent partnership extends the Memorandum of Understanding with the two companies, “further strengthening and expanding their strategic partnership in digital play experience for Chinese children”.
If you recall, LEGO and Tencent first entered into this working partnership back in 2018 to empower Chinese children to be prepared for a mostly digital future. This partnership saw the birth of the LEGO Video Zone with more than 800 LEGO-themed videos released in Tencent’s video channels, consequently being awarded with the distinction of being one of the top-10 most-viewed toy-branded video platforms in Tencent.
Last year also saw the launch of Tencent’s LEGO Cube Mobile Game – a sandbox video game where kids can explore vast, seemingly never-ending lands made of LEGO bricks populated by LEGO minifigure characters. Aside from being an open-ended play experience, it also provided Chinese children with socialization opportunities with other children in a safe and friendly environment while teaching them the rudiments of 3D design, construction, and coding.
For the next two years, LEGO and Tencent will continue to work together to bring more high-quality digital content, with particular emphasis and investment in creating a more robust digital social community akin to LEGO Life. Think of it as China’s version of LEGO Life that is not just for children but also for teenagers and younger LEGO fans as well. Additionally, the two child-centered companies will continue to develop software applications that will further fuse both physical and digital play in new ways that we haven’t seen before. As you may know already, LEGO has already placed considerable investment in adding an augmented reality component on its LEGO sets particularly with the introduction of the LEGO Hidden Side theme. Lastly, helping children learn the rudiments of robotics is still very much at the heart of the LEGO education system with the introduction of the LEGO Boost theme.
Personally, I’m excited to see what is in the works between LEGO and Tencent for the next two years. LEGO has continually pushed the boundaries of conventional play ever since it came out with its very first wooden toy back in the early days of the company. Any new technology that will enhance the LEGO play experience will be something that I will keep an eye on.
So what do you think of this renewed LEGO-Tencent partnership? What new play technologies do you think we will see in the next couple of years? Let me know what you think in the comments below.
