Musings on LEGO Fortnite from a media exec. and geek dad

Ever since reading Nir Eyal’s gem of a book, Indistractable, I’ve found the above "self-determination theory" matrix helpful to guide creative and strategy with kids media clients, as well as inspiring as a parent, and occasional gamer & geek.

This post is a look at LEGO Fortnite through that lens. The game exceeded expectations for initial impact (& quality!), but with player numbers dropping more than many anticipated (shout-out to Jo Redfern 🙌), I’ve been thinking about the elements of Autonomy, Mastery, Connection in gaming, and what we might all learn from possibly the strongest collaboration in kids media, gaming, and digital play to date.

The chapter in Nir’s book on parenting is a must-read, and suggests that as we increasingly limit kids’ freedom, and especially unsupervised free play, digital experiences and especially online and social video games step in to provide kids a full-power dose of all three -- 1) Play just the way they want it (autonomy), 2) the ability to get good at a game faster than many RL activities and hobbies (mastery), and 3) social connection to peers in super exciting & elevated form (Fortnite literally lets you jump off a flying school bus and parachute your way into a giant game of ~paintball!). Esther Perel builds on exactly this theme, elevating the stakes of just how important unsupervised free play and learning conflict resolution young are, in a recent podcast episode that’s also very much worth a listen (segment and full ep here).

So back to gaming -- Minecraft is naturally brilliant at delivering all three, and LEGO has openly talked about MC as “The one that got away”. Roblox, the biggest elephant in the room (with more daily players than all other Playstation and Xbox games combined!) leans massively into avatar self-expression (so much to love about this aspect), and sadly hard into experiences with dodgy UGC (anyone up for a game of Russians VS. Ukrainain warfare?! 💔) and UX fueled by lessons in rampant consumer culture; a trend set to accelerate as experiences and UGC developers are increasingly rewarded in Roblox by how successfully they pressure kids to spend more money, and advertising and retail tools & revenue becomes a focus this year.

It’s this background that led many of us to wish for “a true competitor to Roblox that brings the best of LEGO’s understanding of play into a safe, creative, and social space for kids, with the entertainment and staying power of Fortnite.” (my words from a previous LI post).

Yet when it comes to Autonomy / Mastery / Connection LEGO Fortnite falls somewhat short on all three fronts. I’ll follow up with posts about Mastery and Connection another day, but here’s three thoughts on Autonomy:

• LEGO bricks and Minecraft blocks offer tremendous creative freedom to build any way you like. The build mechanics in LEGO Fortnite’s survival game do a pretty great job training future Fortnite Battle Royale players, but fall short of delivering UX to catalyze creative building (for the kids & masses anyway -- Creative mode is inspiring some widely impressive crafting among Let's Play content creators).
• LEGO Fortnite skins are AWESOME. While I’ve found myself happily shelling out for V-Bucks for the first time to buy our 7 year old (and me!) our fav. skins, they don’t feel personal. Here’s wishing (but skeptical) that we’ll be able to mix, match, and even trade minifig parts in the future.
• The gameplay in the game’s survival mode is linear to the point of being boring. Talking with youth specialist, and "MC OG" exec. Brandon Relph about the game he pointed out that it feels over-engineered compared to the surprise, delight, and diverse experiences that unfold playing Minecraft survival. Maybe there's hope for future UGC to shake that up, but rumors are Epic won't be revenue sharing with creators in LEGO FN... 🧐

I’ll close out this piece by saying that despite the failure to create something industry-changing, the game is an absolute success on (at least!) three fronts, and appears to be very much win-win-win for Epic, LEGO, and kids & family audiences.

• For Epic, the collab brought new audiences to Fortnite. The fact that the collab was financed by external strategic partners, and drives UA and brand building in such compelling ways… GG, Tim & co!
• For the LEGO Group the game's launch at least was a rather epic brand engagement success with millions of Fortnite gamers, and ongoing influencer content. Especially clever was the launch off the back of the OG Fortnite season, which broke records (for players and profitability), and saw many who’d “grown out of” Fortnite returning for the nostalgia — a PERFECT brand fit for the LEGO Group and building long-term brand value.
• For kids and parents the game, along with an IARC age rating and controls in larger Fortnite, solves a parent-approval problem for Epic with Fortnite that faces most any successful (kids) brands — kids younger than the target demo inevitably want in too. The survival gameplay in LEGO Fortnite really delivers wonderfully here. Highlights for me included to joy of running around picking up sticks instead of cutting down trees (yeah, I'm that kinda dad 😆) -- but what a universal kid activity too!), though I will say I do not love the choice to make killing wolves core to most players early game experience.

That’s it for today. Would love to hear from you in a comment, and always feel free to DM me.