In an unexpected move, The LEGO Group unveiled a bold new business strategy today: online only LEGO by 2025. The iconic plastic bricks will cease all production by 2025, LEGO officials announced today in a press release, shifting resources to the burgeoning smartphone and tablet app market.
‘I wouldn’t be surprised if LEGO becomes the next Atari’
Senior Business Analyst Josh Ng applauded LEGO’s announcement. “I think [The LEGO Group] is making a smart move here,” Ng said. “Smartphone and tablet usage is on the rise. Closing down the manufacturing plants will consolidate resources and free up capital to hire more top notch app developers and software engineers.” Ng said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if LEGO becomes the next Atari.”
Chicago mommy blogger Maxine Smart also praised the announcement. “You mean no more cleaning up my six year old’s LEGO messes? Count me in, ‘online only’ LEGO sounds like a godsend,” Smart wrote in a trending blog post. “I only wish 2025 came sooner. By then my kids will be grown.”
‘A LEGO for 21st Century’
Despite record sales of bricks and sets, the press release describes ending manufacturing as the first step in a bold new company strategy. “Bricks and plates just don’t hold the same relevance and appeal to these new generations of kids,” April Fells, Chief Marketing Director at The LEGO Company said in an interview. “Kids grow up with a tablet in one hand and mom’s iPhone in the other.”
A recent study found that as many as 72% of children under 8 used smartphones or tablets in 2014, a number forecasted to climb to 97% by 2020. By comparison, only 58% of children under 12 played with LEGO pieces in 2014.
Fells sees a bright future for digital LEGO on the horizon. “We need to become a LEGO for the 21st century,” Fells said, “and that means reaching this new generation of digital natives where they live: online.”
‘End of an era’
Despite praise from many parents and LEGO fans, not everyone is celebrating the online only announcement. Adam Leggodt, a self proclaimed AFOL (Adult Fan of LEGO), dislikes the new strategy. “Call me old fashioned, but there’s just something special about the feel and heft of a 2×4 LEGO brick in palm of your hand,” Leggodt said. “The day the last LEGO plant closes truly will be the end of the era.”