With the death of DVDs and movie rental companies, it has been a difficult time for Hollywood movie studios to find the additional revenue for their films. The cost of making movies has risen also so in order to avoid risk the big Hollywood studios have been relying on already established brands with an existing fan base for their new movie productions.
With also movie theatres struggling all over the world because of streaming companies, it is difficult for a new idea to become a movie. That is why most block busters movies are existing sequels to Super Hero franchises like Avengers or DC Comics Batman. In order for a movie to get published it has be a known game with millions of players like Minecraft, a Best selling book franchise like Reacher or basically any Stephen King novel. Movie studios wont take a chance of an original idea as it is difficult to make money without guarantees of paying customers.
This type of mentality seems to be moving also to the Casino world and igaming. Why come up with new themes for games when you can create multiple sequels in quick concession and ride the “halo” effect.
Pragmatic Play has been long relying on its big hit Big Bass Bonanaza to produce the big performance with multiple sequels liek Big Bass Bonanza Megaways, Big Bass Splash etc. Luckily the heavy hitters Pragmatic is not relying on just one franchise game chain as they also have the Gates Of Olympus and its sequels and also Sweet Bonanza.
The Swedish studio Elk is already on its fifth version of its mega hit Pirots in just a couple of years. This game was never thought to be successfull but something in those pesky birds caught the eye of the players and they have been riding that wave ever since.
Other examples good be Play N Go´s Book of Dead and Legacy of Dead or Games Global´s 9 Masks of Fire and the multiple version that game made. Examples are endless to be honest.
In an igaming world where you can make games a lot quicker than you can make movies, it is understandable that when you find a hit, you milk every drop of it as usually a slot game has a a life span of only couple of weeks. It is difficult to live off on one game as a game studio with players and operators always wanting something new.
But is this where the industry is going to? To save from promoting money of games, you go with an existing brand with players already knowing what to expect when they play the games. Or should slot providers be more innovative a keep creating something completely new like Gluck Games did with their 99 Royale multiplayer games.
What do you think will be the next big innovation in igaming?
