LEGO Fortnite is foundational in Epic Games’ platform aspirations

Epic Games is diligently laying the groundwork for Fortnite to become a more expansive and open gaming platform similar to ecosystems like Minecraft and ROBLOX. One of the bricks in this plan comes from none other than LEGO.

Last week, Epic launched LEGO Fortnite, the debut product stemming from the company’s partnership with LEGO and the first in a line of three major releases.

LEGO Fortnite, which went live on December 7th, invites players to explore and, more immediately, survive ecosystems built from iconic LEGO bricks. The cooperative title is quite similar to Minecraft, as it lets players build their own game environments (while fighting monsters and pirates).

Epic Games and LEGO first announced their partnership in April of this year. The main vision behind the collaboration was to build a safer and more tailored platform experience for kids.

Several more Fortnite games with LEGO themes are expected in 2024, along with LEGO elements for Fortnite’s Creative Mode and Unreal Engine for Fortnite. ??

Epic Games and LEGO are also working together to harness Unreal Engine for two upcoming animated shows, LEGO Dreamzz and LEGO Ninjago.

What are the leading games now, and how will that change as the market evolves? You can track the top games (and games as platforms) by every essential engagement and revenue metric in our Game Performance Monitor.

This sweeping collaboration forms part of Epic’s broader ambitions to turn Fortnite into a leading platform (and potential metaverse) in the games market. The company co-founded the Metaverse Standards Forum in 2022 with PlayStation, Microsoft, and Unity and has raised $3 billion or so in pursuit of this lofty goal.

The LEGO launch also gave us a glimpse into how Epic will handle one of the key criticisms of building a platform with metaverse qualities (that’s also available to younger audiences): the burning question of interoperability.

On LEGO Fortnite’s launch day, developers at Epic declared that 317 paid-for skins had been adapted to the game’s signature style. The owners of these skins could instantly use them in the new experience. ?

Moreover, the company turned to X (formerly Twitter) to affirm its plans to expand LEGO styling “as far as we can” throughout its gaming ecosystems.

Other developments bolstering Epic’s aspirations so far include the Rocket Racing mode, developed by Psyonix, and Fortnite Festival, a multiplayer music title from Harmonix. Epic heralds the Rock Band developer’s Fornite mode as “the beginning of music gaming” for the platform. This adds a dimension to Fortnite’s already growing use as a digital concert venue.

What makes the Epic and LEGO partnership especially interesting among these moves is its focus on building a metaverse option for younger gamers (LEGO’s prime fanbase).

Previously, Epic added IARC age ratings to the game’s Creative Mode, but this proved tricky for users unable to use certain skins in creative maps rated for younger peers. Cosmetic gating is currently disabled.

It’ll be interesting to see if the vast collaboration between these two companies elevates Fortnite to the same platform status as the current leaders in the space (Minecraft and ROBLOX). ?

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The Fortnite/LEGO partnership is just a single collaboration in a broader universe of games and brands coming together. Want to keep track of the major movers and shakers in games as platforms? You can dig into how certain games are becoming platforms and what that means for the market in our Global Games Market Report (newly updated!).

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About the writer:?

Tom Wijman leads Newzoo’s games market research as the Lead Games Analyst. He’s been responsible for the market sizing and trend watching behind Newzoo’s annual Global Games Market Report for five years and leads a team of market analysts to provide reliable, independent, and objective insight into the games market. Tom is frequently quoted as a subject matter expert in leading games, business, and finance publications as a subject matter expert, GI.biz, VentureBeat, IGEA, The Economist, and The Wall Street Journal.