LEGO Group requested that fan-made game Bionicle: Masks of Power close, which is bad news for its supporters anticipating its launch. The Bionicle franchise, launched in 2001, became one of LEGO’s most successful non-licensed product lines, with buildable action figures and a rich storyline. It had a DC-published comic book series, four movies, and some games.
Since being cancelled in 2010, with a short reboot in the mid-2010s, fans of Bionicle, Team Kanohi, revealed in 2021 that they were working on Bionicle: Masks of Power, a fan game. Taking cues from open-world games such as Horizon: Zero Dawn, the game looked to re-imagine the original Toa Mata and their fight against dark lord Makuta on the island of Mata Nui.
Sadly, following eight years of work, Team Kanohi revealed the LEGO Group had asked them to shut down the project for reasons they did not specify. This was a surprise since Team Kanohi had gone out of its way to not profit from the game and even declared no connection with LEGO explicitly. While the project was shut down, Team Kanohi did put out a walkthrough for the demo that was to be released on August 10.
Historically, LEGO has been quite forthcoming with fan-made video game creations, even endorsing Bionicle: Quest for Mata Nui on their podcasts. LEGO’s policy towards fan-made creations seems to have changed, however. One of the reasons why the closure is occurring is that LEGO is concerned that Bionicle: Masks of Power will be confused for an official LEGO game.
By every account of released footage, Bionicle: Masks of Power was a polished game, with Team Kanohi commenting that the demo was almost done when the shutdown was initiated. The fate of Bionicle is still doubtful even as the fans reminisce about the figure line that saved LEGO in the 2000s.
