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Released to coincide with Hollywood composer Brian Tyler’s appearance on LEGO Games’ Bits N’ Bricks podcast.

Billund, February 24th, 2021: In December, the LEGO Group marked the 25th anniversary of its first ever video game with the release of the popular Bits N’ Bricks podcast series. Today, the company marks another important date with the release of [the fully remastered LEGO® Universe (Original Game Soundtrack][1]) to purchase and streaming for the first time ever. The soundtrack is accompanied by three episodes of the Bits N’ Bricks podcast looking back at the game’s development, with today’s episode focusing on conversations with composer Brian Tyler, producer Richard Dekkard, as well as a brief visit from the voice of LEGO Universe: Sir Patrick Stewart. 

LEGO Universe was the company’s first ever massively multiplayer online game launched in October 2010, with a soundtrack composed by [Brian Tyler][2] and additional music by John Harman and Richard Dekkard. Now a celebrated Hollywood composer, Tyler has composed soundtracks for huge blockbuster smashes including Avengers: Age of Ultron and Iron Man 3. The soundtrack to LEGO Universe was the first video game soundtrack he composed following soundtracks for classic films like Constantine and The Lazarus Project. It was created with the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, but due to scheduling constraints, Tyler ended up overseeing the entire recording live from a studio in Los Angeles using video and audio streaming between the countries. 

The LEGO Universe theme went on to be used at the entrance at LEGOLAND® parks across the globe and proved to be very popular with fans. Despite its popularity, the soundtrack has never been available to purchase or stream until now.  

As the landmark anniversary approached, Tyler and Dekkard came together to completely remaster the score, which the LEGO Group is proud to be releasing today (Wednesday February 24th) across popular digital music stores and streaming services. The album will also be available on [YouTube][3] featuring a special behind the scenes video retrospective. Patrick Stewart, who served as narrator for the game, will also appear in this video.  
 
On the remaster, Tyler said: “*I’m really proud of the music and I’m proud of the game. I am asked all the time ‘Is it going to be available? and earnestly thought to myself ‘I hope it is!’ I really wanted that for the fans, so I was not going to miss a beat in terms of helping get this out there to the world*.” 


  [1]: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLayhyO1epulRJIYT-wfuPrfktErqYNSIQ
  [2]: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003911/
  [3]: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLayhyO1epulRJIYT-wfuPrfktErqYNSIQ

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To hear more about LEGO Universe’s inception, creation, launch and eventual closure, as well as other key moments in the LEGO Group’s long, rich history in digital play and video games listen to the Bits N’ Bricks podcast. Hosted by journalist Brian Crecente and documentarian Ethan Vincent, the podcast draws on over 120 interviews and explores the many facets of LEGO gaming, from unreleased projects to beloved masterpieces. 

Look out for it on all popular podcast platforms, the [LEGO Games anniversary website][1] and [YouTube][2]. 


  [1]: https://www.lego.com/en-gb/legogames-25
  [2]: https://www.youtube.com/c/legogaming

Available on most popular streaming and digital music services, as well as the [LEGO Gaming YouTube][1] page. Visit the [LEGO Games 25th Anniversary website][2] for more information.


  [1]: https://www.youtube.com/c/legogaming
  [2]: https://www.lego.com/legogames-25

Album information

For more information, please contact: [media@LEGO.com][1]   


  [1]: mailto:media@LEGO.com

Notes to editors

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Today, the LEGO Group marks an important date with the release of the fully remastered LEGO® Universe (Original Game Soundtrack) to purchase and streaming for the first time ever.

THE LEGO GROUP MARKS TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF LEGO® UNIVERSE WITH REMASTERED AND NEVER BEFORE RELEASED SOUNDTRACK

LEGO Universe

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Anniversary marked by the launch of a new podcast which explores untold stories behind a quarter of a century of LEGO gaming innovation, from the release of Japan only Sega Pico title LEGO® Fun to Build to the upcoming release of eagerly awaited multi-platform title LEGO Star Wars™: The Skywalker Saga

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**Billund, December 2nd 2020** – This month sees the 25th anniversary of the release of the LEGO Group’s first ever video game and marks a quarter of a century of digital innovation. From the small-scale release of a SEGA Educational game, LEGO Fun to Build, in Japan December 1995 to global blockbuster titles LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 1-4 or LEGO® Star Wars™: The Complete Saga, the last 25 years has seen the iconic LEGO System in Play come to life digitally in over 80 commercial games and bring creative play to gaming fans all over the world.  

The company’s video games development team started life as ‘Project Darwin’, a small team led by artist Dent-de-Lion Du Midi who travelled to the LEGO Group’s headquarters in the mid-1990s to convince then CEO, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, to let the team experiment with digitizing the brick. The team showed Kjeld what some have described as the first ever LEGO Movie – a short film they had spent a year producing in the run up to the meeting. Since the team’s inception, the LEGO Group has developed over 80 games and sold over 200 million games globally to bring creative digital play experiences to families globally. 

“Over a quarter of a century after the launch of the team’s first video game, the LEGO brick and LEGO System in Play continues to provide the ultimate creative medium for gaming fans of all ages.” says Ronny Scherer, Senior Director of LEGO Games. "It offers builders and game developers unlimited opportunities to create, play and develop in a way that is continually evolving to provide new, exciting play and gaming experiences and that can help introduce new gamers to digital play. We are proud to have long embraced the digitalization of the LEGO brick both through products and gaming to extend the enjoyment of LEGO play across both the real and the digital worlds, opening up new playgrounds for all.”

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The Top 5 best-selling LEGO games over the 25-years (in no particular order): 

 - LEGO® Marvel™ Super Heroes  
 - LEGO® Harry Potter™: Years 1-4  
 - LEGO® Star Wars™: The Complete Saga  
 - LEGO® Batman™: The Video Game  
 - LEGO® Batman™ 2: DC Super Heroes 

To celebrate the anniversary, a new podcast series, ‘Bits N’ Bricks, hosted by journalist Brian Crecente and documentarian Ethan Vincent launches [today/2nd December] with a teaser episode ahead of a full episode the following week. The series delves into the LEGO Group’s long, rich history in digital play and video games and explore the many facets of LEGO gaming, from unreleased projects to beloved masterpieces. 

The podcasts will examine digital play innovations at the LEGO Group more broadly as well as a number of specific titles and themes. These include a previously undiscussed project with Mojang on a LEGO Minecraft title, early efforts to fuse the physical and digital into a singular play experience, a deep dive into the creation of the unheralded LEGO Island – a Mindscape developed action-adventure game that was the company’s first globally available game, and an intriguing series of conversations with LEGO Group leaders about the future of digital play.

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Spending more than a year investigating the history of LEGO video games, Crecente and Vincent researched more than 275 people involved in the creation of more than 50 of the games and conducted more than 100 interviews.  

The Bits N’ Bricks podcast kicks off on December 2 with a teaser episode, followed by an episode dedicated to the meetings Minecraft creator Mojang held with the LEGO Group in an effort to craft a new sandbox, open-world game.  

The season will see a new episode release weekly, concluding with a special show featuring conversations with the LEGO Group’s current leadership about the evolution, opportunities, and innovation involved in digital play. 

Each episode will be available on [the LEGO Group website][1], as well as on all popular podcast platforms for free. The full schedule can be found below. 

The 25th anniversary will also see the launch of a webpage dedicated to the Bits N’ Bricks podcast, as well as a packed infographic timeline that illustrates some of the key moments in the LEGO Group’s quarter-of-a-century history in digital play and gaming.


  [1]: https://www.lego.com/en-us/legogames-25

Bits N’ Bricks Episode Information
----------------------------------

 - *Introduction* 
 - Episode 1 – Minecraft 
 - Episode 2 - Fluid Play 
 - *Holiday Special* 
 - Episode 3 - LEGO Island 
 - Episode 4 - Unity 
 - Episode 5 - LEGO Builder’s Journey 
 - Episode 6 - TT Games 
 - Episode 7 - LEGO Universe Part 1 
 - Episode 8 - LEGO Universe Part 2 
 - Episode 9 - SPU Darwin 
 - Episode 10 - Past, Present, and Future

Bits N’ Bricks Fun Facts
------------------------

 - Total people interviewed: 120  
 - Total people researched: More than 275  
 - Total games researched: More than 50  
 - Data collected and archived: 11 terabytes  


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For more information, please contact [media@LEGO.com][1]


----------


  [1]: mailto:media@LEGO.com

An award-winning journalist, Brain Crecente spent nearly 25 years covering the video game industry. He helped found Kotaku, co-founded Polygon, and ran video game coverage for both Rolling Stone and Variety. He currently runs consulting company Pad and Pixel. Prior to his time covering video games, Crecente spent 15 years as a newspaper police reporter.

About Brian Crecente

Ethan Vincent is an Emmy-award winning documentarian, working freelance since 2006. Prior to that, Ethan worked in editorial on documentaries and feature films, including work on Sony Pictures’ first animated film ‘Open Season.’ In 2008, he documented the making of the LEGO company’s first MMO Game, LEGO Universe until its close in 2011. Ethan is currently producing Season 2 of a TV series on international visual artists.

About Ethan Vincent

FROM BRICKS TO BITS: THE LEGO GROUP CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF LEGO® VIDEO GAMES

lego AND games, lego AND anniversary, lego AND video games, lego AND digital, lego AND 25

LEGO Games 25th Anniversary

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