LEGO is ramping up its hiring for its metaverse experience. In April 2022 we reported that LEGO has partnered with Epic Games to create a metaverse experience. In recent weeks, the toy company posted job ads in Denmark for a senior marketing manager, senior portfolio manager, and creative lead for interactive experiences within its GAME division, which includes the metaverse. (Hat tip to Jays Brick Blog for highlighting the ads.)

The Creative Lead ad has since been removed, presumably because the position has been filled or there were enough applicants.

When LEGO’s metaverse concept was announced last year, the company said that NFTs would not be part of the product at this stage and that the company would prioritize the well-being of children within the experience.

During an interview, LEGO creative director James Gregson said that NFTs could be used for LEGO’s adult audience who are interested in collectibles. But it has a very deliberate emphasis on being inclusive rather than exclusive, so NFTs are unlikely to be used to restrict access to part of any metaverse experience.

Gregson highlighted LEGO’s unique position as a brand known for its physical toys. One of the unique selling points of it is that it’s a physical product that gets kids away from their iPads. So how will that balance with a metaverse experience? The goal is to bridge the physical and the digital rather than go completely digital.

LEGO has already taken steps in that direction. For example, it launched a co-created augmented reality experience with Snapchat. And with Minecraft’s 140 million users, there’s clearly a demand for it. While LEGO sells physical versions of Minecraft, it did not develop the game. Microsoft bought Mojang, the game’s developer, for $2.5 billion in 2014.

In other game developer news, shortly after LEGO announced it was developing a metaverse experience with Epic Games, Kirkbi, the LEGO family investment company, invested $1 billion in EPIC games.