In numbers: Are licensed LEGO sets only for adults in 2025?

We’ve crunched the numbers on the LEGO releases so far in 2025 to dig into whether licensed LEGO sets are catering only to adults.

As prices on licensed LEGO sets seemingly creep up, some in the online LEGO community have voiced concerns that younger LEGO fans are getting priced out of licensed themes. Take LEGO Star Wars, easily the LEGO Group’s most successful licensed theme, whose August wave was critiqued for being too expensive. Other recent licensed products, like LEGO The Lord of the Rings, are entirely made up of 18+ models, with nothing geared towards younger builders.

While that’s all well and good for older collectors, it could lead to issues down the line. The LEGO Group has made no secret of the fact that it’s leaning into nostalgia, bringing back iconic sets that today’s adults remember from childhood, like 10355 Blacktron Renegade. Licensed sets like LEGO Icons 10358 Soundwave play on people’s love of the ’80s cartoon, tugging on consumers’ heartstrings from their childhoods.

If there aren’t enough iconic sets for kids now, what will scratch that itch in a few years or a couple of decades’ time? To dig into whether kids are still being catered to fairly in LEGO products, we’ve dug into the numbers behind LEGO releases in recent years, using data sourced from Brickset.

In 2025 so far, two-thirds of products aimed at those under 18 were unlicensed, compared to 52% of 18+ sets. While there’s a lower proportion of licensed sets for younger builders, the difference is not massive between the different age groups.

It’s worth noting that there are licensed themes that are almost entirely focused on younger builders, like LEGO Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog. While older fans might think of Star Wars, Marvel, and certain Icons products when they first consider licensed products, there are other licenses that are specifically geared towards younger fans.

Those numbers almost exactly match up to 2024’s data for younger builders, with last year seeing 31% of sets for those under 18 coming from licensed themes. Admittedly, there was a greater difference between the age groups in 2024, with 58% of sets for those aged 18 and over released in licensed themes. That’s a greater disparity between the two age groups than in 2025.

Comparing these to five years ago in 2020, when just 23% of sets for under 18s and 35% of 18+ sets were licensed, we can see a trend of more and more licensed sets. However, generally speaking, the ratio is increasing for both age ranges, suggesting that, rather than licensed sets being more geared towards adults, the LEGO Group is putting a greater emphasis on licenses for all ages.

Of course, these numbers only paint part of the picture. There’s no good in having sets geared towards younger audiences if parents and children are priced out of them. After all, 75413 Republic Juggernaut is aimed at ages nine and up – yet with a price tag of £140, many would argue it’s not an accessible playset.

Nonetheless, the breakdown of targeted age ranges does indicate that there are plenty of licensed sets for people of all ages. Whether they appeal to and can be afforded by those they’re aimed at is, of course, another question that can’t be answered by data alone.

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