2K has made a name for itself as one of gaming’s biggest publishers, and the LEGO Group has made a great impact on the gaming world over the years. Now, 2K and LEGO appear to be joining forces for a new line of LEGO-branded titles based on various sports. This report comes from VGC, who broke the news recently. The titles in development include a football/soccer title, along with an open-world racing game, and a third title that lacks a description but will be “based on a major sports franchise.”
The new LEGO sports lineup from 2K comes on the heels of Warner Bros.’ TT Games studio losing its exclusive rights to produce LEGO-themed videogames. This deal has been active for years, but now that it’s over, other studios are getting a chance to utilize the LEGO IP.
Bricks and tricks
For this new sports-themed lineup, 2K has enlisted the help of Sumo Digital, which will handle the aforementioned football/soccer game. Interestingly enough, despite Sumo’s extensive history in racing games, it’s actually Visual Concepts that is developing the open-world LEGO racing title. Visual Concepts is the same team behind the annual NBA 2K series, among others. It’s currently unclear what studio is working on the illusive third title. As of now, none of the mentioned companies have released any official statements on this news development.
The Lego property has been in the hand of other game studios already in recent years, albeit in small doses.
Considering that LEGO videogames have been in the hands of TT Games for such an extensive period of time, it will be interesting to see how these other studios will handle the property. That said, 2K’s business model as of late greatly favors treating titles as live-services, as shown by the microtransaction-heavy nature of titles like the NBA 2K series.
Even so, there’s no denying that such titles bring in vast amounts of revenue every year and have been doing so for quite some time. With the vast popularity of the LEGO property and LEGO videogames, in general, this future lineup already seems poised to be a new juggernaut in the industry.
All things considered, LEGO is no stranger to the sports branch of the videogame world. Hit titles of the past include Lego Racers, Lego Stunt Rally, and Football Mania, to name a few.
