Recognized, official and rights owned branded content continues to be the ‘Holy Grail’ in the online gaming world. Owners of top intellectual property (IP) as Hulk Slots, South Park, Deal or No Deal Bingo et cetera take a cut of the commissions and that effectively means the games cost more to the operator.
Despite these costs, big name casinos and slot brands continue to grow and utilise official content as a major part of the strategy.
As a matter of process big companies such as Universal Pictures, Marvel and Sony all license their IP for slot games as this has become a lucrative sector for them. Browsing through the slot games catalogues of the likes of Bet365, Paddy Power, Betfred and others you will see some many familiar brand names.
These games draw players through brand affinity and a sense of security – the KPI’s for new player acquisitions and retention proves the value and it’s unlikely to end as content providers look at every possible content deal, game variation and edition updates possible.
There’s still lots of non-branded games but the official market is growing from strength to strength with recent announcements including NetEnt launching a Guns and Roses game, Microgaming with a ‘Bridesmaids’ slot game and NYX Gaming Group preparing to release a ‘Psycho’ slot game.
It’s interesting to consider how regulators should view some content given the likely age of the audience fans (we’re thinking Jack and the Beanstalk or Jurassic Park!) however that’s an entirely different story!
