From humble beginnings as rough systems in the age of dialup, slots have gone on to become some of the most important components of online casino’s success. It’s common for modern websites to offer hundreds of these titles, with slots forming the backbone of many online casino experiences. The slots themselves cover a broad range of concepts and themes, from new IPs to movie tie-ins, references to sports, history, mythology, and, our personal favorite, video games.
While all these different themes integrate well, video games are often regarded as some of the best suited to make the jump into the casino world. So, what is it that makes this connection such a strong one, and why are video game conversions only growing more popular as time goes on?
Among the Pack
In their modern forms, online casinos are immense and offer as many slot games as players could handle. Many of these games, such as Jammin Jars and Mystery Museum eventually create a legacy that keeps them popular, but others have to fight for their place in the spotlight. After all, with so much on offer, it’s not realistically possible for users to play them all.
In this way, the reliance on video games as a reference acts in the same way as TV and movie tie-ins, in that many properties are instantly recognizable for their success in a different medium. This is exactly what Call of Duty managed with their Modern Warfare slot machine, which has been a huge hit for gamers who love the CoD series. Taking this idea a step further is Tomb Raider, which borrows from the success of both the games and the movies to create a title with unmistakable reverence to the property’s achievements.
Evolution is King
On a more direct level, the reason why video games make such great slot games relates to their ever-evolving nature. Tied to the digital medium, each generation of video games, especially on the AAA level, pushes the envelope more and more. Games grow, they expand, and in many cases, they spin off into other titles.
In some cases, these spinoffs are not meant to challenge the success of the main series, but rather lean on its fanbase to create something that the original doesn’t touch. This was the case for mobile ports for years, and it’s also the same attitude that slots based on video games take.
A video game slot doesn’t need to ape the main series, it just needs to accurately reflect what makes a property special. In some cases, this can be a striking visual design. In others, it can be a sense of exploration and discovery that comes with both adventure and big wins. Essentially, it’s about understanding what fans love, and extrapolating from this point into another medium.
Source: Pixabay
Entering the 2020s, both online casinos and video games are bigger than they’ve ever been. Because of this, we wouldn’t be surprised to see crossovers in the slots and video game world eventually becoming standard. Who knows, we might even reach the point where a slot game IP makes the move to become video games, in the same vein of what early titles like Zool did for lollipops so many years ago.
