Lego's latest brick trick: a virtual world

Lego Universe is part of a bigger plan by the company to revitalize itself after a near-collapse five years ago, when the company founded in 1932 posted its first loss.

Lego executives say the company lost its way by branching into non-core areas like television shows and toys that required less building and weren't customizable like the core Lego bricks.

"It was a near-death experience," said Henrik Lorensen, vice president of business development at Lego.

Lorensen said Lego was distracted from its main area of expertise of providing toys children could use to build their own worlds and unleash their imagination, or as he says, "the joy of building, of creation, that you have when you play."

Lorensen says the approach of "making good, classic products in the right way" is reflected in Lego Universe.

About two dozen people at Lego are working on the game while an additional group of nearly 70 are working to create the online world in Denver, Colorado, where game developer and Lego partner NetDevil is based.

The digital efforts fit in with Lego's popular video game franchise and also with Lego Factory, a digital design system that allows users to build Lego designs and then order the necessary components in one package from Lego.

Through such efforts, Lego believes it can reach even more people than the 400 million who play with Lego bricks every year. Lego has expanded its line to include kits tailored for girls, featuring princesses and horses and castles.

Lego Universe, the company believes, will encompass all of that and more, as the name suggests. Users will be able to create, destroy, enact battles, or just fiddle with bricks in a world of their own.

It will also give the company the ability to reintroduce bricks that are no longer made in Lego factories and potentially offer all the 6,000 types of bricks made by Lego.

But there will always be a link back to the physical world.

Just like with Lego Factory, users will also be able to order the physical versions of their online creations and have them delivered to their door.

(Editing by Tim Dobbyn)