Warner Bros. building Lego games through 2016

There's a bucket-load more Lego games on the way. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and Lego Systems today announced an extension to the agreement that gives TT Games the exclusive rights to make games based on the building block brand.

To date, the partnership has seen a number of high-profile successes, starting with the original Lego Star Wars in 2005, which recapped the sci-fi serial's prequel trilogy with Lego characters pantomiming all the key scenes. It wasn't long before the formula was applied to other properties, from the original Star Wars trilogy to Batman and Indiana Jones. To date, the TT Games Lego titles have combined to sell nearly 50 million copies worldwide.

The original TT Games Lego titles were so successful they inspired Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment to acquire the company outright in 2007. A Manchester Evening News report put the buyout cost at £100 million (roughly $200 million at the time), which was more than had been paid for either Harmonix or RedOctane, two more overnight-success developers of the day.

Although Warner Bros. now has plenty of time to experiment with the Lego brand, don't expect any drastic changes to the heretofore successful formula. Lego Digital vice president Henrik Taudorf Lorensen explained in a statement that the Danish company was eager to extend the agreement due to the games' "creative, social and non-violent" nature. TT Games Publishing managing director Tom Stone added that the company will continue to work on pairing the Lego name with other intellectual properties, those of both Warner Bros. and other companies.

Two more Lego titles from TT Games are set to hit shelves this year. First up will be Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 in May, with Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars retracing the animated TV series' steps this fall.