Branded online slots games are developed under legal agreement with the owner of a “brand”. The slots game incorporates audio and visual characteristics of the brand in its graphics, symbols, animations, bonus games and other features. This allows the slots game to cash in on the popularity of the brand and results in drawing more traffic. Some of the brands that have been in used in this genre of online slots are characters from super hero comics, Hollywood films, video games, television reality shows and even board games. This article discusses the branded games of three of the leading online casino software developers.

Microgaming Branded Slots

Branded slots games were introduced at online casinos by Microgaming, which is a pioneer in the field. Eidos was a producer of video games and owned the immensely popular Lara Croft brand. Lara Croft was the sexy explorer whose adventures were incorporated in video games. In 2004 Microgaming released Tomb Raider featuring an exact likeness of Lara Croft and other graphics from the Eidos video game. It was an instant hit. Microgaming launched two other games with Eidos. One was a sequel to Tomb Raider titled Secret of the Sword and the other was Hitman. These were technically better because they featured plenty of animations from the video games in consonance with the action theme.

After a break from branded slots, Microgaming released the mother of all branded slots in 2010. This was based on the Tolkien trilogy The Lord of the Rings produced by Warner Bros. The films have won several technical awards and are very popular. The first slot game based on the first of the three movies was The Fellowship of the Ring. It had photographic likeness of the characters from the movie and showed clips from the movie while the reels were spinning in an innovative feature called Cinematic Spins. The release of the sequels is awaited.

Cryptologic Branded Slots

It was the software developer Cryptologic that really popularized branded slots. Based on a deal with Marvel Comics it brought to the reels super heroes like Spider Man, Iron Man, The Hulk, Elektra and Captain America. From 2007 to 2010 Cryptologic released 17 Marvel super hero branded slots. These branded slots went beyond visual likenesses. They incorporated as symbols the super heroes, their alter egos, their source of power, their weapons and their enemies. It was a dream come true for Marvel super hero fans.

The latest branded slots from Cryptologic are based on DC Comics super heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman and Paramount Pictures like Braveheart and Forrest Gump. The different series of Cryptologic branded slots are linked to different multi-tier progressive jackpots, which is an added attraction.

Playtech Branded Slots

Playtech was the latest entrant into the branded slots market. It took Cryptologic head on by signing a deal with Marvel Movies and launching a series of branded slots based on the super heroes from Marvel Movies. The super heroes were the same, but the graphics differed because it was taken from the movies and not the comic books. Playtech also moved on to Hollywood movies. With MGM it launched Rocky and Pink Panther and with Universal Studios it launched Kong.

Others

A discussion on branded slots cannot be complete without discussing some brands of other types. X Factor is one of the most popular television shows developed by Fremantle Media. The software provider Ash Gaming has a slot game based on this brand. WagerWorks has a number of branded slots based on Monopoly, the most popular board game ever.