VIDYO, the LEGO Group’s latest flirtation with augmented reality, encouraging kids to film music videos featuring some of the craziest minifigures you have ever seen will be formally retired from January 31 2022, while the App will continue to be supported for another 2 years.

Is this a shock? Or just another case of the LEGO Group tidying up its digital products before the big 90th birthday party later in the year?

Read on for the formal statement, and my belated overview of the theme, which might not be as negative overall as it could be.

VIDIYO was released in early 2021 to much fanfare, celebrating the LEGO Group’s collaboration with the Univeral Music Group (UMG). The initial premise saw the release of blind box minifigures, in conjunction with ‘beatboxes’ – a small, boxed storage and stage, with a colourful Minifigure. These sets (both the blind boxes and Beat Boxes) also came with ‘Beatbits’: 2×2 tiles, in a variety of colours with colourful decoration, that promised to provide effects, action and humor when recording music videos with the App.

These look great on paper: the figures are unique and crazy – and inspiring late ’70s Fabuland vibes, the Beat Bits imminently collectable, and further sets were promised for later in the year. But, there is the dreaded McGuffin to tie it all together: The App.

Targeting tweenage children, the App specifically set out to allow kids to create a Music Video, using songs licences through UMG, featuring the Video minifigures they had collected and projected into the real world. These videos could then be shared either through the VIDIYO App, or the LEGO Life ecosystem – a social media system designed with kids safety at its core. And one more thing: the performance in the Music Video could be enhanced with the use of the beatbits, which could add extra music tracks, bonus dance moves, or onscreen filters.

Personally, my experience with the App in the early days was less than brilliant, but I shall come to document this later in the post.

That said, initial sales were…less than stellar: the RRP for the BeatBoxes were higher than people were willing to pay and, initially, they were required to get the staging element required to start your band in the App (a process that I still don’t think I have mastered.). The App itself was overly complicated, and required a current model phone to run smoothly.

In July, the following message was sent out via the LEGO AMBASSADORS NETWORK:

As you know, we launched LEGO VIDIYO in January to connect with children in a completely new way, blending music, digital play and LEGO building in a fun and unique way. The product tested extremely well during development and has received really positive feedback from those children and families who have played with it.

We’ve seen a positive response to the launch, but we’ve also received feedback from people that we could make the play experience across the app, BeatBits, music and minifigures even simpler. So, we’re taking that onboard and together with Universal Music Group are going to pilot some new ideas in 2022, then release new play experiences in 2023 and beyond.

LEGO VIDIYO is very much still available, the current products will continue to be sold in stores and marketed globally, and we’re continuing to support this fantastic play experience, including new updates and fun challenges to the app to inspire children’s creative music video making.

Thank you for your continued support of the LEGO brand, we hope for your understanding behind this decision.

Further Beatboxes, Collectable figures and new Stage Sets were slated for ‘limited release’ in the second half of 2021, and there was initial confusion regarding the availability of these sets. Indeed, inconisitent messaging, particularly with regards to the availability in some markets led to a degree of frustration and confusion amongst AFOLs around the world.

The App was updated so that the stage element was not formally required to scan a character in, and all sets were subjected to deep discounts on Amazon, and other online retailers, almost from launch day.

The stages actually promised a bit of fun: different minifigures were part of different music genres, and the stages played in with this – we saw a Pirate Punk Ship, an animal-themed K-Pawp set, Robo-HipHop DJs with their lo-rider, and more.

These sets could be scanned by the app, and additional lighting and video effects applied – these effects could be changed by rotating different elements of the stage. The final effect was actually pretty cool BUT it was limited to having built up the Stage set, as defined in the instructions, and there was not scope for modification, or MOCing, and having it take advantage of of the opportunities provided by the Augmented reality.

We are now a few months down the track from the release of the stages and second wave of figures. Deep discounts continue to abound, if you know where to look.

And then, tucked away late on a Friday night’s news cycle… this arrived on the Ambassador’s network.:

In July 2021 we decided to pause the LEGO VIDIYO roll-out to review performance and test new ideas. Through the extensive quantitative and qualitative research we have undertaken in the previous months, we have gained an enormous amount of learnings in terms of the music & content creation space and what it would take to succeed with the play experience, our go-to-market strategy in 2023 and not least how to build a sustainable business based on the VIDIYO experience. 
 
Based on these insights we have decided to discontinue the physical VIDIYO products from January 31^st 2022 but will continue to support the app experience for another two years to serve those consumers who have bought the products.  
 
We still see great potential in pursuing music as a passion point and we will take learnings from LEGO VIDIYO as we continue to explore future fluid play experiences. 

This playtheme is no more. It has ceased to be. It is pushing up the daisies. It’s a stiff!

Although the app will continue to be supported to ensure that your phone’s OS upgrades don’t cripple it completely, for 2 years.

So, was VIDIYO a failure? My personal experiences.

There are certainly things that could have gone better!

We first heard about VIDIYO in late January 2021 – a year ago – and we were told to anticipate our first sets in February: Different figures, making up different genres. Different packaging. Beatbits to enhance the app.

When the range was released, we had a mixture of cool minifigures, and some other cool minifigures, in a box with a small mosaic, selling for 4 times as much. (around $25AUD). Other than tiles to place over an 8×8 plate, and assembling the minifigure, you got a better building experience with a LEGO City polybag hotdog stand. And a better stand alone play experience.

Please don’t get me wrong: there is room in the market for blind packaged figures: especially since the CMF series were reduced to 12 figs per set. And, in real life, a lot of these figures were quite fun. And if you had access to a box, you just had to get all the figures on one side or the other: the full set was there. Boxes versus bags? lots of AFOLs didn’t like being unable to feel their figures.

To be honest, the alien DJ is in fact one of my favourite minifigures. I am not ashamed to admit that I might have paid full price for him.

However, these figures were individually boxed, rather than coming in bags like the collectable minifigures. Many people hunting for that ‘certain someone’ were not fans of this new packaging.

But, it was a big thing. I hadn’t seen many LEGO products advertised in tram stops for this occasion…

The first try…App V1

So, as someone trying to drink with a glass half full, and be fully informed, I took to the app in these early days. Perhaps being an early adopter was a problem. On opening the app, I was invited to wait, while a 400MB download took place. this seemed to happen nearly every time I opened the App up. Having endured the update, the work flow was not entirely clear to me. Eventually, I successfully created my ‘free’figure, scanned in my figures, and some beat beats, and I set out to make a video.

Now, it was 2021, and I was using an iPhone 12(barely 6 months old). And just as well. The video ran, after a fashion, and I had a bit of a laugh using the different tiles. However, I don’t really know how I made it work. I started to attribute magic to as a significant part of a successful workflow.

When I was finished, I could not download my clip locally, to show it off. I could share it to LEGO Life, or within the App itself, for other users to see. My soul sapped by what was ultimately a disappointing experience, I lacked the presence of mind to just film the screen with another camera. Anyway, I tried again.

It appeared that every time I wanted to start making a video, I needed a figure and Beat Bitsinstalled in the stage module ready to scan. This made it somewhat impossible to demonstrate the app to someone if I didn’t have the gear close at hand. I put the app down and started to commit figbarf on these first figures – creating a singing robot cowboy. Having dismantled him, I never knew if I could still use him or not. still, he looked happy enough with his lot, though.

And then, come June, we get the message that further development is being put on hold for 2022, and that after releasing the sets are already packed up in their boxes, the theme will go on hiatus. this would allow the group to explore new ideas, because the way things started out just didn’t work the way the TLG and UMG expected.

And before long, we got the news of the next wave. We had more Beat Boxes, more blind boxes, and at last, some actual building to do.

And within minutes of hitting the online LEGO store, they were released on Amazon at stupid per cent off. So I bought a couple of stages, for what I considered to be a fair price.

The figures came along eventually, but in Australia were only available from LEGO.com, and only for a maximum purchase of 20. Not a full box of 24. I received 10 different figures. Twice! Grumble. Others were more fortunate.

But still, I had some more crazy figures, and I splashed out and bought a Party Llama Beatbox. And I had a stage to put together: the 43113 K-Pawp Concert. Angel Winged Unicorn. Nothing more needed to be said. I may have bought others. That’s not important right now.

Were the parts worth it? Who Knows!

This IS a stage! no doubt. As well as places for the band to stand, it has a few moving parts: the unicorn head rotates to reveal a kitten (or is it vice versa) and rotating speaker stacks; there is a green room to park excess figures. I felt like I had been transported to somewhere in between Fabuland, a 1980’s music video and the set of the Masked Singer. My first thought was that this was absolutely crazy.

As for the minifigures: We have great moulds for the Bunny, kitten( with brilliant 90’s Glam Metal hair), and a Unicorn. With Angel Wings. Their costume brints are vibrant and the new head molds take me back to Fabuland days. There are more K-Pawp figures to be found amongst the blind bags: a kitten singer looking sharp with his narrow black tie; a dancing rabbit with a boom box….

Now, while the animal characters give of old Fabuland vibes, to a certain extent, they are far more vibrant and urban than those characters ever were – is it just the exaggerated performing personas or the wonders of 40 years in the advancement of Graphic Design and Torso Printing?

Back To The App

Now, a few months have gone by since I last used the VIDYO app by this stage, so I bit the bullet. First, download the 256 MB app, then cownload the 440MB update…Again, I have to install a 440 MB download to proceed. I hope I am on WiFi. At least I am told it is for New Content.

To be honest, I cant remember what I did last back in March to make it work, so I start again from scratch, and hit the big + button. It turns out this is the ‘Make a new video’ button.

So, I cannot remember how many songs were available last time, but today (january 2022) there are around 33 songs available. Some of them are even songs that I know.

I recognise that I am not the target demographic, but I was surprised and heartened to see MC Hammer, Guns N Roses, INXS and Elton John on the list. Even if it was just one song each. Over the years, my kids have introduced me to Taylor Swift, as well as the Wellerman Sea Shanty. There appeared to be a mix of songs from around the world, by a variety of artists, in a variety of languages.

I would have liked recommendations based on the Vidiyo genres: genres of characters: Pirate Punk; Extra Terrestrial Dance Music; Fairy Folk and more. I can understand the relatively limited options from the, frankly huge, UMG Catalogue: there are 27 Beat Bits that bring additional audio to the song – these need to be tailored to each available track, and would be pretty resource heavy.

Now to select a band… So: Need to have set up a band by scanning in my figures. Important tip here. there are a number of configurations you can use for this, including up to three number of figures. BUT you need to have a band set up before you go to perform. (this can be a solo artist)

You get a ‘free’ figure that you can set up if you dont have any sets. So at least you can get a taste for the action. Otherwise, you need some figures – sourced from a beatbox, stage or bandmates at hand to set up a band. These are scanned in using the menu row’s ‘Scan’ button: Now decide if you are scanning in a stage, bandmates (from stages, blind boxes and beat boxes)or beatbits.

Set up a figure and tiles and scan. And repeat. And Repeat. This is awkward if you are a completionist and have just purchased all of the figures! Yikes! Scanning takes a few seconds.

A MAJOR IMPROVEMENT, since the last time I used the app, is the ability to use the last band, and Beat Bits I used WITHOUT RESCANNING. At least I could get on with some video making without finding my figures. If I am going to change the band or Beat Bits in use, I will need a figure from that band to rescan available before starting.

OK: I’ve selected my band and my stage, and my Beat Bits. I am offered some virtual Beat Bits-of-the-week to substitute in for the ones I have scanned .Some look like fun. Who knows what a tile covered in rainbows will do…

Ok… I have my stage set. The app tries to locate set points on the stage – the location of the specific speakers, as well as the setting of the central mascot. The speaker alignment gives us a choice of comically exaggerated speaker stacks, while the mascots take us from a Unicorn Crystal Backdrop to Fluffy Wuffy Cloud Land(seriously!).

And then the music starts. The figures dance, and various effects can be added to the overall sound; comedy effects (throwing cream pies?); video effects and filters. You do this by selecting different beatbits during your recording phase.

Unlike the previous iteration of the App, I can now download my video. But first I trim it, and then it goes via a moderated inspection up in the cloud somewhere: it will block videos containing real people or text. If you video contains these, not only will sharing be rejected, it will also be deleted from you device! Fortunately, this means you will never see my dodgy first attempts.

I’d be lying if I were to say the process wasn’t fun at the end of the day. At least, filming the video was.

I mentioned that the buildable stages arrived in the second half year, after we had already be told that the theme was to go on hiatus. One of these, the Boom Box came with figures from a number of genres, and I wonder what it might have been like if each received their own Stage set?

Once the second wave of collectable Band Mates arrived, I could not find an easy, rapid way to scan multiple figures into the App. It presumes that you wish to scan a figure for the purpose of adding it to a band, and creating a video. Unfortunately, this was not my desire on getting a shipment of minifigures from LEGO.com. The process became slow and tedious.

And when I want to record a video with a new band, I have to locate a physical stage module, some best bits and a band member. Going back to locate one member of your band when you want to change bands is a bit dull, perhaps some strategy is required, moving characters in and out of bands, so you only need to have the one figure close by at all times? There is a limit of 16 bands in your roster, however.

Certainly, the app has come a long way in the 11 months since it was first released. But I was using fairly up to date hardware – a 2020 phone is not likely to be the thing most 5-year-old kids have access to. While the experience was not seamless, it was eventually enjoyable. Not something I’d play with for days, but I have to admit I have found the experience enjoyable.

After a few tunes, I saw my characters getting points, and I have now massed some resources. It turns out, I can now swap the elements of my Vidiyo Characters, Virtually: I still need to scan them, properly assembled, but I can mix and match costume elements – and not just torso’s, but printed shirts, jackets and necklaces. Even a full-on jumpsuit. The range you have available is dependent on the use you give different characters. There are even extra outfits (including ugly holiday knitwear that you can purchase for points earned through performing.)

Unfortunately, the app won’t let me put the angel wings or ghost legs onto Party Llama. Shame that. I can only do that in real life. [feel free to take a moment out to enjoy this jaunt sea shanty…]

So where does this leave us?

Officially, the LEGO Group will Retire VIDIYO sets on 31st January 2022.

The App will continue to be available and supported (well, maintained)for the next 2 years. BUT it will not gain new songs over this time, and there will not be any changes to the workflow. It will just be kept ticking over, ensuring that any big changes in OS architecture are supported.

But I know the answer to these questions is ‘NO.’ It will be kept compatible with new devices and operating systems for this time. I think the company’s investment in developing the product, as we know it, has ended.

So, where do I stand on VIDIYO? Was it a waste of time, and abject failure?

I don’t think so.

After going back through my VIDIYO collection, in writing this up, I realise that overall I have enjoyed many aspects of it, while some are distinctly lacking.

The theme gave us a total of 46 new minifigures some of which were truly crazy and creative characters. We also got over 130 collectible tiles. The stage sets brought us a number of fun builds, including one of two pirate ships released this year (the other being in LEGO Super Mario). These characters and builds were spread out across a number of subthemes, some better developed than others. the printing on the torsos and tiles has been top-notch. There is no doubt that this has been a resource heavy theme.

The App

The App is ambitious, and as I said earlier, I believe that using the App today is better than the experience I had 8 months ago. But we have to remember that The LEGO Group has been working on augmented reality for over a decade.

• Go back to Life of George: my kids call it an iconic childhood memory. An iPod touch could photograph a 2d build, and compare it to the plan, awarding points accordingly.
• Fusion (2014-2015) was never available outside USA, but promised simple builds, which would bring life to creations. Of the four sets released, only one review appears on Brickset, and it is not good…I’d love to know your memories of this platform if you ever used it.
• An evolutionary cul-de-sac with Ultra Agents at the same time: Conductive elements could activate a touch screen, allowing engagement with the game. Of course, by allowing any set to be rearraged to use the conductive elements, and not checking on the final built form of a set, the player is not obliged to own those sets to drive the story along. As a player this is good. As a company looking to sell more toys, less so!
• We then see parallel development:
  • Nexo Knights features a game that relies on collecting and scanning shields with patterned borders to aid game play. The scanning process felt sluggish, but was an interesting way to introduce powerups into a game.
  • We start to see the LEGO 3-D catalog appear – projecting a book, as well as moving sets onto the table top. I remember seeing the Elves airship float around the room. It was cool.
  • This was followed, soon after, by the arrival of AR Playgrounds – initially a general set beta test (december 2017), its final release evolved to include sets from the Ninjago Hunted wave (2018), placing the model on a builders desk, and have minifigures run around on it. the larger sets required the physical models to be present to be unlocked. Minifigures running around on the sets, on your desk, were able to be targeted as part of the game itself.
• 2019 and we see the Hidden Side sets arrive.
  • These sets brought an original story with an engaging web series, some great set design and an AR game that involved targeting ‘gloom’ aspexcts of a haunting. Personally, I found the game too hard to play well and proigress, and I was somewhat frustrated that it was dependent on keeping my sets build up. My options were also somewhat limited in the absence of most of the sets, as far as levels I could unlock.
  • Consumers were somewhat confused by the artwork on the front of the box that did not clearly demonstrate the LEGO Experience of the set, focussing on the supernatural story, and the use of a phone app.
  • We ultimately saw 3 waves, over 18 months, with many sets having play features that would convert a scene from looking fairly ‘everyday’ to incredibly haunted. Ultimately, I hear fans talking about how the theme felt like it was cut off prematurely.

This brings us to 2021 and VIDIYO. After 8 years with distinct augmented reality work behind it, the company ultimately produced an app that did what it said on the tin: Produced a music video featuring performing minifigures, integrated with the environment around them. The first version of the app was a bit frustrating. but there have been at least 15 updates over that time. Some ‘maintenance updates’ and some ‘Performance updates’ and in between, we also see new features added. Somewhere around August, the app started to hit its stride, allowing instant replay of your video, and the ability to download your video clip to your own device. My experience in early March was dicey, and in October I found it usable.

Today, using version 1.1.7 the App felt smoother than previously, even on an iPhone 7+. Is easier to navigate than it was in August. but I would still suggest the workflow is still a bit unclear or disjointed in places. It is designed to help you play, rather than collect your figures and Beat Bits. Even then, aspects are clunky.

Ultimately, I would have liked the app to have

• a more intuitive workflow for different tasks,
• an interface designed to help collectors – especially for Beat Bits
• a wider song selection, perhaps with curated subtheme typing.
• [as a fan media, I would have appreciated notification when the app was given a performance boost- then the previously unpleasant experience could be revisited.]

But these were sadly lacking.

We have recently seen the LEGO Group shifting focus from LDD to Studio as a digital building platform, and I suspect that the LEGO Group has a long game with regard to digital building experiences, somehow incorporating augmented reality. The state of the art phone from 2020 will be the hand-me-down phone of 2025. Looking to that time, many hand-me-downs should be able to run this sort of software in a relatively painless fashion (admittedly, the battery charge will seem to melt away…).

The LEGO Group are building towards a future where Augmented Reality will be a significant part of their digital offerings. The company continue to develop AR, building on an almost decade long legacy. Like it or not, it is coming.

Did VIDIYO have to fail?

I don’t think it had to, but I think it was destined to. The cornerstone for a lot of kids with LEGO play is the building and story-telling experience. And you couldn’t do that when the theme was launched.

When VIDIYO was launched, we had Bandmates and Beat Boxes. These did not really allow for that build experience: an 8×8 tile mosaic did not really feel like the same thing. Then there was the cost: The Beat Boxes cost around $25 AUD, for what was essentially a minifigure and some printed tiles.

How did they compare with contemporary sets of a similar size for cost? I compared Beat Boxes and stage sets with other 2021 themes at comparable price points: specifically City, Friends, LEGO Star Wars and Ninjago.

In the first (green) table below, we look at sets at the RRP price points used for the VIDIYO sets, and look at the average part count for 2021 releases CITY, Friends, Star Wars and Ninjago at these price points.. From a part count point of the view, the VIDIYO Beat Boxes are an aberration. I accept the boxes are specialised elements, and they are large. But they were not widely viewed as more than minifigure boxes with some tiles included. With regard to that stages, the sets were reasonably comparable for part count with the other themes, but the $29.99 sets (Robo Hip-Hip Car and Candy Castle Stage) were standouts for parts.

LEGO City probably represents less value on a per part basis, BUT as we will see, these sets are Minifigure heavy.

Price Point	VIDIYO	LEGO City	LEGO Friends	LEGO Star Wars	Ninjago
$19.99	79	165	198	137	172
$29.99	366	206	291	267	328
$49.99	514	227	469	513	598
$59.99	615	348	575	544	840
$99.99	996	654	1105	969	1060

At almost every price point, the VIDIYO sets had a lower minifigure count than other themes. Again, the Beat Boxes Had a significantly lower figure count than all other themes examined at this price point. The only possible exception to this rule would be the $50-60 USD LEGO Star Wars sets.

Price Point	VIDIYO	LEGO City	LEGO Friends	LEGO Star Wars	Ninjago
$19.99	1	1.5	2	2	2.3
$29.99	2	2.4	2.6	3	4.5
$49.99	3	3.5	3	2	4.7
$59.99	3	4.3	4	3	4
$99.99	4	7.7	4.7	6	7.0

With a reduced part count in the Beat Boxes, which at the time of initial release represented the only way to ‘buy’ into using the App, they were a tough sell to consumers – initially, only die hard collectors were happy to be picking them up at RRP.

In Australia, the Recommended Retail Price for Beat Boxes are around $25, around 4x the price of a collectable minifigure. It turns out that we have one of the more favorable RRP’s for these white elephants around the world.

Combine the lack of building experience in the first wave with expensive beat boxes subsidising the development of the app, as well as licensing costs and you have set the theme up for a failure. which is a shame

I am a RLFM. This stands for Recognised LEGO Fan Media, not Recognised LEGO Business Consultant. Despite this, there are a few things that would have made the entire theme work better FOR ME:

• Offer a building Experience Day One: Band Mates and Beat Boxes are all Very Well, but unless you wanted to collect things, or play with music videos, there wasn’t much on offer.
  • The stages I have built are clever designs, and look appealing, ad I could see kids happily making their own clips using music and (real) minifigures. There have been a few subthemes that could have seen some amazing theme specific stages in subsequent waves, including Extraterrestrial dance music; Monster Metal, Discowboy and Fairy Folk. I’m sure there are others. But this was the big thing! For the theme to be put on hiatus before the second wave was even announced suggests something went horribly wrong here.
• Wanting to play with music videos is one thing, but if the App’s performance is so poor, and the UX is so challenging that it prevents this, then what is the point of releasing it Day One?
  • People try it, and tell all their friends how bad it was. I would encourage anyone who gave up on the App last March to revisit it, But I doubt that you will..
  • The first impression of an App is the most important: Perhaps if they had just offeredr a curated playlist to accompany the building experience from the extensive UMG library initially, adding the augmented reality option once it was ready for prime time. Testing, testing and more testing. The performance of the app has improved a lot over the last year, so has the feature set. The workflow for adding figures and tiles, less so.
  • When we had major performance boosts added to the app, no one told us ‘here is a useful update – please give it a try.
• Do we need to have sets come with a $14US premium to support the ‘free app’? Do we need a free App?
  • Back in my Dark Ages, if the LEGO group wanted to release a game, the publishers put lots of work into it and made it work before burning it onto media for distribution, because when the time came to release it, there was no easy way to update the software to all your customers.
  • Is the App ecosystem to blame: we don’t want to pay $50 for the software, but we will buy several sets with a $10 premium attached, only to see them discounted 5 months later. Of as we have seen with VIDIYO, hardly anyone was buying them until they were selling for 30…50…60% off. Except for a few highly desirable sets.
  • Would a monthly subscription option be better? Perhaps allow 3 videos as a free trial, and then buy in to be able to continue using them?

Today, less than a week before the theme is officially discontinued, a consumer can probably get the experience with VIDIYO that was intended, if they have a recent enough device: But the damage is done. That initial poor experience with the App killed the experience for many, and with that, the theme. There was nothing else to do with the figures: the stages hadn’t even been announced yet; there was no real building experience.

But why cancel the theme now? Does this really mean that AR driven music videos are gone for good?

On cancelling the theme, the LEGO group is legally obliged to maintain the App to run on current hardware for two years. It won’t be actively developed, just maintained. And we have seen The LEGO Group busy cleaning up the digital portfolio in readiness for their big birthday this year: LDD is gone; Bricks and Pieces and Pick a Brick are merging. VIDIYO is cancelled. The house is getting tidied up in time for the big party.

BUT I suspect the work will go on. The LEGO Group still have a licensing agreement with UMG. As we mentioned earlier, The LEGO Group have their sites on a hybrid future combining physical bricks and virtual environments. Augmented reality will play a significant role in this. We have seen significant advances, over the last 10 years, in the way that The LEGO Group use this AR technology – we may not have always liked it, but the technology has steadily improved. Even in the last 12 months, VIdiyo has come a long way as an experience. I can’t wait to see Tunez, VIDIGO or whatever the next product is called.

At the end of the day, I am disappointed that VIDIYO’s time is up. I can appreciate the business decisions behind things, and do not believe that it is as simple as ‘people don’t want to mix playing on their phones with their LEGO sets.’ Fluid play is here to stay, and I suspect is high on the LEGO Group’s agenda.

At the end of the day, there are multiple factors that have contributed to VIDIYO not being a massive commercial success. Fans like to imagine that they could say day one”this will flop”…”see I told you so.” We don’t like seeing the company we love (and as Fans, that’s what we do) make decisions that we don’t understand, especially when it is doing something we think might be a bit ill-advised, and didn’t work well last time.

However, you cannot deny that, for better or for worse, augmented reality and virtual-building are both part of the company’s long term strategy, along with playing with physical bricks. I do not think the company is extending beyond their core product. The company is not revisiting the folly of Galidor: they are in a much stronger position today than they have ever been before. 2024 is nothing like 2002. Or even 2017. The core product remains storytelling with bricks. The bricks just do not have to be physical.

I am sad to see VIDIYO cancelled. I am excited to see what comes next.

How do you feel about VIDIYOs demise? Do you regard it as a failed theme, or a footstep towards a larger goal? Why not leave your comments below, and until next time,
Play Well!