Exactly 20 years ago, on games consoles far, far away, two iconic brands were brought together to create an entirely new genre of video game. With the LEGO® Star Wars sets helping to reverse the fortunes of The LEGO Group, a little-known band of rebel games devs from Traveller’s Tales had an idea to bring these sets to life in a video game. The LEGO Group were still fairly new to the gaming scene, but they were on board, and Lucasfilm, fresh from bringing Star Wars back to the big screen, also gave the go-ahead. The release of that first LEGO Star Wars game 20 years ago helped to shape the future of LEGO games.
LEGO Star Wars: The Videogame retold the somewhat exciting story of the prequel films and was even the first place to experience the events of the Episode III Revenge of the Sith, as it was released a whole month before the film hit cinemas. This partly helped with its impressive sales and saw it become the 13th highest selling title of 2005. Naturally, with great sales and positive reviews, a sequel appeared the following year. With the first game covering the events of the new set of films, LEGO Star Wars II would tackle the original trilogy, with both titles later being combined to create the Complete Saga in 2007. A third title was released, and LEGO Star Wars has inspired several other games, including mobile titles and TT Games’ last game, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game being released, but the future of LEGO Games is still unclear. Although TT Games invested and fine tuned the concept of a LEGO video game, their next project has yet to be confirmed. Job listings suggest they are working on another LEGO title, but WB Games seems to be having a tough time. Several WB Games studios have been shut down, and multiple projects have been canned. Latest rumours suggest that TT Games’ next LEGO title is aiming for a 2026 release by WB Games want it out as soon as possible, even if that means content is cut. Recent financial results have also floated the idea that the LEGO Group could be bringing game development in-house. Regardless of the future of LEGO Games, none of it would be possible without the original LEGO Star Wars game being released on March 29th, 2005
