The LEGO and Nintendo partnership: just another brick in the wall of overpriced gaming merchandise?

Nintendo fans certainly welcomed the announcement of a partnership with LEGO, featuring a range of buildable Mario courses and a 1:1 scale NES set, complete with retro TV and a game cartridge. However, the hefty price tag of £210 for the NES left many with a dry taste in their mouth. While the gaming industry has a rough history of poor-quality, overpriced merchandise, the LEGO and Nintendo partnership is not set to be part of it.

The LEGO fanbase often uses the metric of price per brick (PPB) to gauge the value of a set in comparison with others. There are other elements that can influence the price of the set, most notably the inclusion of certain mini-figures, but this isn’t a concern in the case of the NES. 

With a price tag of £210 and a piece count of 2,646, the NES has a PPB of 8p. Already, this puts the price of the set in context with its size: LEGO hasn’t skimped on the details. This PPB value is on the higher end of the spectrum for sets of this size; the Haunted House set, which also retails for £210 has a PPB of 6.5p, and the full Old Trafford Set has a PPB value of 6.4p. 

This value doesn’t necessarily mean LEGO has overpriced its set for profit, as the higher PPB value is partly due to the cost of getting the product fully-licensed by Nintendo themselves. A more accurate comparison can be made with sets from the official Star Wars range, LEGO’s best selling range that also requires extra licencing costs. The ‘Ultimate Collectors’ A-Wing set has a PPB value of 10.5p, and the Tantive IV set comes in at 10.1p. As far as licensed sets are concerned, the NES is one of the cheapest.

There is also a fine line between stylish video game homage and embarrassingly over the top and bizarre clothing items

Moving aside from the value for money rankings of different LEGO sets, the high price of the LEGO NES is due to two brands collaborating to create the set. Both LEGO and Nintendo are top range brands which people already pay a premium for, even if they aren’t produced in conjunction with another company. The overwhelming amount of overpriced video game merchandise stems from a gaming company working with a far lesser-known brand. 

Branded gaming accessories are the category where the product is most likely to be of considerable quality, with there only being a small premium for the branding. The Razer DeathAdder mouse is a classic example.  Numerous gaming IPs such as Overwatch, Destiny and World of Tanks have released a branded version of the DeathAdder. With the unbranded version readily available, it is easy for the consumer to gauge how much extra the branded version is, although gaming companies regularly throw in exclusive codes to skins, weapons, or vehicles for the relevant game.

For console players, it is a similar story. Branded controllers are a common occurrence, despite the existence of an unbranded version that delivers the entirely same product without looking quite as nice. Even then, the recent generation of consoles has shown that the industry is moving away from full blow branded consoles, most likely due to lack of consumer interest. Again, only the most popular gaming IPs get their own headset and controllers. The average gamer is going to have a basic understanding of what certain accessories are worth, so it is almost impossible for gaming companies to release very overpriced branded versions that will still see commercial success. 

Video game merchandising certainly drops in quality for clothing. This is merchandising in its purest form: the only extra that you get for the premium is a visual representation of the brand. No higher quality clothing or extra features. Blizzard sells men’s t-shirts with Overwatch branding for roughly £20. For the same price, you can get a patterned t-shirt from Top Man and, while it’s not a designer brand, you can be assured that Top Man clothes will be good quality. Blizzard is known for its range of games, not quality t-shirts. Still, apart from the basic practical elements, the chief aim of clothing is to look nice and there are some interesting designs offered, especially if you are a big fan of the associated game.

The LEGO NES may seem costly, but it is the result of two premium brands working together to produce something of significant value

There is also a fine line between stylish video game homage and embarrassingly over the top and bizarre clothing items. For instance, Nintendo has sold a Yoshi hoodie, complete with head spikes and, worst of all, a tail. Ubisoft is also guilty of this, with a variety of Assassin’s Creed hoodies featuring at least four unnecessary straps on the front, and even a replica wrist blade that should be banned for everyone apart from cosplayers. 

Video game companies are slowly learning more about the dos and don’ts of merchandising. Replica in-game items that only the most self confident would wear in public are being phased out for more regular clothes with subtle and stylish branding. There is now a greater emphasis on collector’s items and gaming accessories, with the average gamer far more likely to want to have a Mario-branded Joy-Con than a Mario-branded hoodie, or a small statue of their favourite Overwatch character rather than dressing up as them to just go food shopping. 

Companies are also moving to merchandise that appeals to their fan base more. There is certainly a significant crossover between Nintendo fans and LEGO fans that justified the new Mario range and the aforementioned LEGO NES set. Other examples also exist: World of Tanks have been releasing model kits of tanks together with the model vehicle brand Italeri, recognising that someone who plays an online historical tank game will have at least a passing interest in building models of tanks.

Thus the LEGO NES may seem costly, but it is the result of two premium brands working together to produce something of significant value. The partnership is a reflection of how the industry is gradually learning that targeted high-value items will see more commercial success than wave-after-wave of cheap branded t-shirts. Let’s just all collectively forget that the realistic Yoshi hoodie ever existed.