Dimensions to end a year early
Posted by Huw,
An article published by Eurogamer yesterday claims that "Toys-to-life franchise Lego Dimensions has drawn to a close, a year earlier than originally planned.
"Publisher Warner Bros. is yet to officially confirm the cancellation, [but] sources close to the company have told Eurogamer the series is no more."
Its demise has long been rumoured but now it seems the writing is definitely on the wall despite WB not officially confirming it. After all, why would they: Christmas is just round the corner and there's a load of stock on the shelves still to shift.
The EuroGamer article goes into some detail about the difficulties TT Games faced in developing and bringing it to market over the product's lifecycle and is an interesting read.
Do you have any theories as to why it's failed? Will you miss it?
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57 comments on this article
Is anyone really that surprised, though?
I can't comment on the game as I've never played it but it's been great to have some new unusual Minifigures, I will miss those.
Expensive at rrp but great if you can manage to get them when on offer.
Sonic the Hedgehog and The Gremlins were my favourites, maybe they can find a new way to introduce these types of special edition figures in the future.
I suspect production of Dimensions was/will be shut down because it wasn't financially successful. It was a late arrival in a genre of game that probably was already halfway through its natural cycle when the Lego version came out. Also, the micro-builds, while imaginative, weren't really necessary to the game players, while people who weren't interested in the game found the sets pretty expensive before discounts (or even after discounts, in many cases). The proof of that is the roaring market in people splitting the sets up, with game tokens going to one person and everything else to another.
I'll miss it in much the same way I miss the Mixels--a fun idea that might have gone on for longer, but didn't. From the point of view of TLG (and Warner Bros, in all likelihood) better that than having it overstay its welcome.
There are so many, many reasons it failed....
First, it simply was not a good Lego game. There have been many good Lego video games, but this one is not one of it. Progression was often frustrating, some levels too hard (for kids), with the characters constantly dying, and it was not always clear what the player had to do to continue. Level design was often simply bad, especially compared to other games for that age group and game type. Jumping was often made harder by bad camera angles and sluggish controls. While the cross-overs led to some funny moments, it was not enough to keep it together as a coherent whole.
The add-ons needed huge downloads, amounting to dozens of GB, which was a source of constant frustration for kids - coming home with a new pack and then having to wait a few hours before being able to play is not fun. Also the patches sometimes simply broke the progress, since it was not clear that one had to download all the new levels to keep the save games intact.
Many of the add-on characters were from dubious franchises that kids simply never heard of (Goonies!?). They were marketed towards an adult target group, that might buy one or two sets, but not necessarily to play with them but just to keep the minifigs. But just for putting them up on the shelf, they were too expensive. As can be clearly seen by the fact that many of the more obscure packs were discounted 40% and more on Amazon right from release on. Auctions on ebay often state "has not been played with much" or "was not as much fun for the kids as we thought". And prices have stayed low for most of the minifigs on ebay, too.
For collectors the two exclusive polybags broke the fun, the are expensive and at the same time not worth buying to play with them.
All in all, Dimensions was a fantastic disappointment for me. "Lego City Undercover" was a gazillion times better, while at the core having the same gameplay concept. Better and more coherent level design, faster progression and add-ons from more interesting franchises (or even just Lego core themes!) would have made this a lot more fun. The potential was badly wasted. I have all sets from wave one, a few from wave two and none from wave three. Teen Titans Go might be fun for about three people, but it simply does not have that wide a target demographic. It is really, really too bad they screwed up so badly with Dimensions - and something I cannot really comprehend, given that there are so many good games.
Amazon price watch is full of reduced Dimensions sets and has been since it has been released. At least that will be tidied up eventually and we can see other sets in the list. :)
The graphics were appallingly bad; it looked like something from early last decade. Another major factor was the fact that this game was released years after the other toys-to-life games, which had already saturated the market.
Year Two was super-glitchy, the game was far too easy in places and too hard in others, almost nobody had interest in both the Lego side and the gaming side of the packs, and Lego was about thirty years late with most of those licences. Sure, maybe some kids have heard of Knight Rider or the Goonies, but I highly doubt they're as popular today as they were in the 80's.
They were nice to look at in toys r Us and I particularly liked all the dc comics ones and the ghostbusters Ray stanz and doctor who one was cool, the figures will still be available in sets so dimensions isn't a huge loss,
Lego will always be legendary without it.
I would have been all over this if it came out for the PC.
I really liked dimensions. I have all the Minifigures except this last wave which I will get. I picked all the other sets up deeply discounted. Only played the game for about 30 minutes but loved a lot of the Minifigures that I never thought lego would make. Of course growing up in through the 80's made it attractive. My daughter who loves lego was less than impressed with it though and has no idea who Mr T or Micheal Knight were.
What I’m curious about is whether the game will still be playable when it is discontinued. I’ve collectes a fair amount of figures and still like to play it...?
Once Disney Infinity died that pretty much showed me where the toys to life category was headed. If a line with Disney, Marvel and Star Wars (and petty solid gameplay) can't survive no one can, it's now just a matter of time.
Be interesting to see how cheaply the Dimensions stuff sells off after Christmas.
Historically it's unpopular sets that become seriously collectable and with so many unique figs and franchises that are unlikely to re rereleased I wouldn't mind betting that Lego Sonics and ETs etc. picked up cheaply will be a very good investment.
It was interesting to read in the full article about what the future plans for Lego Dimensions were that have now been scrapped and the various changes and pushbacks that occurred in terms of release dates.
It really highlights how many difficulties dimensions has gone through. Also I thnk it made a good point about how LEGO had to maintain its quality with that of actual sets and yet compete on price with others.
Dimensions simply came to market very late and thus had a limited window of possible success. The base game was good. The year 2 expansion of endgame functionality was great. The breadth and quality of expansion packs was, honestly, amazing, bringing us countless new molds, prints, & part/color combinations. It introduced franchises & figures we could only have dreamed of getting otherwise in official LEGO form. As this latest article touched upon (but with far too little emphasis), the economics were terrible for LEGO, Warner Bros., & TT. Many LEGO fans lamented the retail prices of the add-on packs based upon the volume of plastic contained in each, but the amount of work and cold, hard cash that went into procuring & managing the licenses, developing the exclusive molds & prints, and creating & testing the vast game content & functionality was undoubtedly staggering. I'd guess without exaggeration that it was easily in the realm of 100 man-years of work. Forget about profit, just think about worker compensation (salaries & benefits) alone.
I think Dimensions had "failed" by the end of the first year for one very simple reason. The hype for the entire "Toys To Life" genre had already faded. Skylanders was once *the* thing, occupying entire aisles at Toys R Us stores, but kids simply moved on. It was just a fad, like Tamagotchi, Beanie Babies, pet rocks, and hula hoops. Nothing can stop the natural crash of a fad. Nothing.
Agree with everything else is Mickitat's interesting and well-reasoned post above, but if your kids haven't seen "The Goonies" then you are failing as a parent! ;)
The game was great in my eyes, they didn't support it as much to where the price became unteachable. If they gave us more content to equal the price then it would of work. Look at the ninjago which had more than one pack. If they had more content for the pack with the same price then it would of work. Frankly I think they missed out on cashing in on STAR WARS which I was hoping would of got make before they cancel.
I enjoyed it. I mostly wanted the figurines, but I've been a big fan of TT Games for years, so I enjoyed playing it, too. It's a game my daughter and I can enjoy together.
I'm sad to see it's ending, though the rumours have been circling for months.
I would love to have gotten a Lord Vorton minifig though.
Now for sure those very exclusive minifigs will see their retail price jump up on second market. They 'll be very specific pieces to have in a collection, cause many of them, which had never been released before, won't ever be again. I' ve never bought any of them neither played the game, but I guess TLG chose this way to come a further into numeric market (which was clearly announced on their commercial strategic choices and targets), but clearly, because of all these good reasons and points quoted in your comments, chose the wrong way to do it.
All games of this sort seem to die pretty quickly...
Really!!!??? I never saw this coming!!!! NOT.
They are 3 for 2 at the moment in Argos and Amazon seem to have lowered their prices accordingly. Not a massive saving but maybe worth picking up the ones you really want before they finish and the prices double.
Hope they will focus on LEGO WORLDS now.
It's really bad they haven't mix them both.
They haven't even RELEASED this game here in Poland.
LEGO Games are always failing. First Lego Universe, then LOCO, than Lego Minifigures. You could tell they were getting really desperate when they started adding characters like the Powerpuff girls.
I love playing this game with my daughter (she's 5 turning 6). The levels are too hard for her but together we make things work. I initially bought a few packs for the figs, but... then I bought a Wii U for the game ;)
The 'news' isn't a surprise though, it's been said for quite a while and the fact that the Ninjago Movie game was not 'in' Dimensions (like the Batman movie one was a story pack) made it quite clear they have moved on. But as Jang said, do not underestimate the amount of time and work that went into the game for every single one of those expensive packs.
I haven't played the game, but I've heard it was very glitchy, especially on Wii U. As others have mentioned, it was probably a combination of being years late to the toys to life party, irrelevant liscences and of course the insane price of expansion packs. I would've loved to get into the game, and I did want to buy some sets for the figures, but at $25 for the cheapest option, no thank you.
It was/is glitchy and some of the pack choices were off target for the younger demographics. But overall it was a nifty idea and brought some very cool pieces to use for builds and characters we might have never seen otherwise. I'll slowly collect and play the remaining pieces as they get discounted. That way my two boys and I can still enjoy it for a few years. I will miss it but not the high costs and glitchiness.
I wish they'd just license those kinds of Minifigs and sell them for like $5.99. I was super happy to get Mr. T, Sloth, and the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man while it lasted.
My experience: Base game price was to expensive. Two years after release it is still $70 to get a new disc copy of the game and a toy pad. I have bought some packs just for the figures in them, but since I never got the game I had no reason to buy more.
The newest add on we bought was Beetlejuice which had a great minifigure we'd have never gotten w/o Dimensions. However the gameplay of the mini-level is very limited, repetitive, and dull. So was it worth even the reduced price of 12.00 US? Not sure... love that minifigure though! As for the rest of the game we've basically stopped playing (only wiping off the dust to try Beetlejuice). My daughter and I enjoyed it, beat the main story of the game, never got into the combat mode or whatever its' called, but basically got bored w/it. As others have said if LEGO had come out w/this one or two years earlier, and had been one of the first, or the first, in the toys-to-life market, they would have seen much higher sales. I feel like LEGO is often a bit late in hopping onto the bandwagon that is an emerging trend, as I've seen that across several themes/licenses. So if it ends, it was a good run, and we'll still drag it out (more often when baby brother grows up a bit and doesn't try to eat the minifigures and minibuilds, coords, etc.), and will miss new figures, but will still pick up ones we've missed on the cheap when possible. Goodbye Dimensions, above all thanks for the minifigures!
PS. After reading the article a Lord Vortech pack that would have unlocked every world/level would have been amazing! Bummer...
Does Lego Dimensions have an online component/download? -If so, when the servers get turned off Dimensions will become completely worthless.
When are LEGO going to produce a game that's actually about building stuff?
Take the building zoness from the old LEGO Universe, fix the bugs, tidy them up a bit, let you build your own town, spaceport, maze, etc., program some moving lifts, doors, switches, etc., submit it for moderation, then let other players wander in as minifigs, muck around in it, and leave you feedback and ratings. Job done. Why is that SO HARD to grasp?
@Joefish: what you are describing is called LEGO Worlds...
Hopefully this cancellation will help Lego start making larger profits and allow for system sets to be reduced in price.
This is too bad. Never played the game (could care less) but I loved the one off figs!
The biggest problem I had with Dimensions is the sets didn't come with directions! Never played the game, won't miss the game, but we got tons of great little sets and -those- I'll miss. It was an especially good source for cool, 80's themes like the Arcade, A-Team, Back to the Future, Knight Rider, and more.
There are many dynamics outside of the toy/game user experience that Lego-Warner delivered that forecasted this to be a truncated product life:
a) Late entry to a competitive toys-to-life product space. That Lego-Warner did as well as they did in sales, retail facings, and leveraging their IP is commendable. I wrote about why I thought that so when Disney axed Infinity in May '16: https://brickset.com/article/21434/how-disney-lost-its-brand-ownership-of-magic-and-tech-storytelling-to-lego
b) Euromonitor Intl already flagged in 2015 that was the peak TTL market, with stagnation by 2018. Their forecasts have held pretty strong, especially given that:
c) Some of the data on which that report was based— console install bases and changing demographic and game spending in tightening economic times— has itself continued to weaken.
d) Yet no doubt, glitchy and sporadic support to the digital Dimensions product by Warner didn't help matters on the UX side.
But we still loved collecting the packs despite the lack of freshness to the in-game experience.
It's a bit of a shame it's all getting shut down. If they could have just made another game, as in Dimensions 2, with a new story it would have been better than the constant release of figures to be played in a game you've already finished loads of times.
Ugh, this sucks. I never played the game but the Minifigures were so great, especially Teen Titans Go, Goonies, Harry Potter, Back to the Future, Gremlins, and a whole lot more.
RIP
I don't think we've seen the last of this quite yet, I think something might be happening with Star Wars and other Disney licences as they stopped making their own last year, I think its more a case that the original Dimensions has come to a close a year early but next year could be a new follow up but not compatible with the old system but it will be more Star wars based etc.... I'm hoping anyway
Also they wouldn't have been able to mix Disney Licence's with others such as DC, simpsons etc... I think they have to launch a new game and maybe with a new name to use the Disney Licence's
Just looking at that picture... if I'd known they'd made a Papa Lazarou minifigure I'd have been a bit more interested
I consider this game as a unique way of collecting licensed minifigures.
I bought the starter pack and 2 discounted fun packs then when I looked at all the "powers" I would need to just complete the core game and buying only characters that had the most "powers" (hack, strength etc.) I would need to spend an extra £146 (using only discounted sets) so I didn't bother with it any more.
Ooh, big surprise...
Maybe there'll finally be some good discounts now.
@Boettner Builds How much less?
Hoping I can pick up a tonne of great mini figures at low cost soon. After Christmas more like
It’s not skylanders??
I love the Lego games but this one apart from some of the best ever mini figures I’m looking at you mr stay puff. It was just, well boring. Bit like CoD trying to be halo, if we wanted exo suits we’d play halo. Thank goodness that we are back to WWII in a few weeks!
Lego console games should be more like thee best “Lego city undercover” on the wiiu that is hands down the best!!
And Lego sets should be just bricks and imagination. Toys to life seems like a good idea but it’s not, not really. RIP
It needed more main levels, I know they wanted you to buy the level packs for more levels, but if they added more levels to the main story with the starter pack, then people who finished the game quickly would still have played for longer. Once I finished, I never had any reason to keep playing and then didn't need to buy any more packs and I think that was the case for many other people also
It was a great experiment. Even ending a year early, I would call it a success for LEGO fans and LEGO gamers on a lot of levels. The main game story was robust and many of the Adventure Worlds and Level Packs were built with love for the respective properties. And it was fun mixing those characters/worlds together.
Some of the unique minifigures were a treat and actually appealed to me as worthwhile buys before I even got into the game. I suspect there will be significantly less opportunity for many of these types of licenses in the future, where normally the investment and development of a full theme would be required to release associated minifigures, this game only required an Adventure World - like Wizard of Oz.
That's partially what led to the demise, though. A lot of obscure properties thrown into the mix - the strangest one to me was Knight Rider, which I understand was a nostalgic play to a certain age of fan but just never felt like a natural fit to me. I'm a fan of a lot of the other 80s properties that were included but many of them have transcended their original eras and found new generations of fans, I'm not sure the same can be said about Knight Rider, at least not to the degree of say Back to the Future.
Judging by the sales of the Simpsons-related packs, it would seem a lot of fans felt the same way about The Simpsons (and/or a tremendous over-estimation of demand. You can't sneeze in a store without knocking over a few Krusty fun packs).
That wasn't the only challenge - the market for Toys-to-Life was winding down, and the overall expense to get into the game in any significant way was too burdensome. It's just not a sustainable product from that view, for potential buyers or TLG/TT Games, likely.
Anyway, there will be a lot of folks who somehow feel shortchanged, which I don't understand given all the great content that came out of it. I also imagine a lot of folks will be crowing about the demise (indeed, a lot of people seemed to root for it to fail!) but some of us did actually enjoy this experiment - and it was a success while it lasted.
Now do yourself a favor and go track down a Stay Puft Fun Pack ;)
I don't really play videogames that much, but my main point with this is that I build with Lego because I want to "unplug" from my daily life. I'm on a computer all day long, and don't want to play videogames in the evening. Lego (physical Lego) is my way to unwind.
I’m a bit bummed to see it go. It had a lot of great figs not likely to see otherwise.
really sad. im afraid of the high prices that we will see in the future for those sets...but im happy that i got some of my favorites :)
I bought some sets just for the figures, as I suspect others did too.
There are many comments saying that one of the reasons it failed was that it was late to the toys-to-life market. I tend to disagree with that. There are still toy-to-life games that are successful. Dimensions had one thing that others had not and what set it apart from the other games - it was Lego, which was an already established toy with a base in basically every kids room around the planet. The problem is that Lego's uniqueness, the concept of building, was badly translated into the game. Only the add-ons like vehicles had to be build, with the instructions only viewable on the screen and popping up at completely odd moments (i.e. when you first put a minifig of that pack on the pad), potentially breaking the flow. The usual building experience, the fun of actually creating something, all that makes Lego, was not translated at all. The add-ons were unimportant, the main focus was on the minifigs and their skills. For that, it was not necessary to have a toy-to-life game (Lego City Undercover had the exact play mechanism). Just swapping the minifigs on the pad did not make the game "Lego". This was a limitation that was build-in (actually mixing and creating something unique would have necessitated all parts to have an RFID chip) and made the game just another toy-to-life game. For it to succeed, it would have needed to be a unique Lego toy-to-life game.
IMHO, Lego used Dimensions as a test market for Ideas licenses that they were unsure about producing full-blown sets. So if, say. Knight Rider or My Little Pony got some interest but not the 10,000 votes needed for an official review, Lego could produce some, test the waters and see what sold really well without needing to develop a new subtheme. So perhaps after a few years, the well of potential licenses was running dry. Never played the game, but I could see how Lego Dimensions worked as "Lego License Sampler."
When Skylanders first launched it was a novel idea. I purchased a couple of years for the playsets and collected many figures from Skylanders for the kids. Years onward the interest diminished with similar products on the market i.e. Disney Infinity, Lego Dimensions. I still like the idea of having a physical toy and interacting it with gameplay on the screen, it created another level of fun depending how the software is making use of this concept.
Just please don't over saturate the market with not well thought of ideas (or non genuine ideas) that will eventually turn off the interest of the whole segment! And there is only this much extra money people are willing to pay to have the physical toy in addition to the game itself, so don't take it for granted! The excitement in the gameplay and interaction is the key and I don't see putting bricks together into a model fits into the overall concept. That was my first impressions when the Lego Dimensions was launched as it looks like a non novel idea plus little add-on interesting concept in the physical toy interaction.
Most people have mentioned already the key problems - late entry to the market, a slightly less effective game, and the massive downloads, which were my personal biggest obstacle, I think another simple fact is they really overproduced quantities for the first wave of items. I've seen some of the later sets move off shelves quickly at stores, so it's not that people don't buy these at all - but every store still has dozens of Wave 1 material, and I've seen with other toys, if the first wave blocks up, stores buy less of later ones and people lose interest.