Nevertheless, NetEnt believed it had something big on its hands by incorporating the hit Netflix show Narcos into its slot range, even going as far as to conduct interviews with one of the stars of the show, Luis Guzman.

Branding of casino games has been around for a while, of course. Microgaming Tomb Raider (2004) is considered the first officially-branded slot game. Playtech, arguably the developer that puts the most stock into branded titles, perhaps took the marketing strategy to its climax when signing a deal with Warner Bros./DC Comics to make DC superhero branded slot games (this replaced an earlier agreement with Marvel Comics). The DC range is pretty impressive, featuring games based on classic comic book material like the Batman and Mr Freeze slot available at mansioncasino.com right up to modern movie slots like Justice League and Suicide Squad.

Sequels are a big draw in 2020

While branding will always have its role in casino games as a means to provide crossover appeal, there is an increasing sense that developers can look into their own back catalogue to build brands. Again, this is not particularly new, and those who follow the industry could point to IGT releasing several games based on the original Cleopatra slot, or Barcrest developing numerous Rainbow Riches games. However, in 2020, we have seen several developers start to look at some of their prized assets, and then start pushing them as brands in and of themselves.

Consider the sequels that we have seen so far this year: Buffalo Blitz 2 (Playtech), Dead or Alive 2 (NetEnt), Reactoonz 2 (Play N’ Go), Gonzo’s Quest Megaways (Red Tiger/NetEnt), Ted Megaways (Blueprint). That’s just a small slice of what has arrived in 2020. But all these games share the same starting point in that the original games were considered smash hits, and the sequels were released to great fanfare. Just as it did with Narcos Video Slot, NetEnt pushed Dead or Alive 2 as a big deal on sites like YouTube and Twitch.

Playtech has shifted the emphasis in 2020

The point we are getting at is that software developers seem to have recognised that there is a huge appetite for sequels to their own creations, and that it works from a marketing standpoint too. If NetEnt were to decide to announce a sequel to Starburst tomorrow, which is widely considered one of the most popular slots of the last decade, you could guarantee it would generate as much buzz as creating a game based on some pop culture phenomenon like Stranger Things or Assassin’s Creed. Sure, there might not be the same levels of crossover appeal for those who don’t play at a casino. But for those that already play casino games, you could argue that the sequel to a popular title is a little more impactful.

None of this is meant to suggest that the art of creating the branded game is dead – far from it. But we have detected a slowdown, particularly from Playtech for whom we mentioned that creating big-budget branded games was something of an obsession. Playtech, while still releasing branded content like Gem Splash: Marilyn Monroe, seems to be concentrating on expanding its own franchises, like Age of the Gods and Kingdoms Rise, rather than rushing out something based on the latest DC films. It’s too early to say whether this is a complete gear change, but the signs are there that this could be a creative shift that lasts well into the 2020s.