Does a Pop Slot Culture Exist? Microgaming Thinks So, and is Convincing Iconic Pop Brands
Published October 6, 2017 by Lee R
Microgaming is going after a niche market that could shift the iGaming target landscape.
Microgaming’s recent license ink for a film-based Highlander slot furthers an expansion strategy that the iGaming industry is watching with interest.
Pop Slots
In continuing Microgaming’s approach of boldly positioning slot branding with pop figures, the licensing deal green lights development of an online slot based on Mazursky’s 1986 Highlander film.
Previous Poppy Agreements
In kind, the agreement comes on the heels of exclusive slot branded Microgaming offerings such as Jimi Hendrix, Motorhead and Aliens, and adds to Microgaming’s portfolio of franchise deals with the makers of Terminator, Halloween, Tarzan, and the Jurassic film series.
The Highlander Mission
The latest slot seeks to reach out to niche members of the film’s enormous followship.
Microgaming Games Publishing Head David Reynolds called Highlander “one of the great cult hits of the 80s,” citing the film’s “action-packed storyline and hefty rock inspired composition” as conducive to what Microgaming is trying to do brand-wise.
Project Status
Reynolds revealed that the Microgaming game studio is currently entrenched in the task of “completing the slot that captures all of the movie magic.” Reynolds alluded to Scottish Highlands and gritty New York City backdrops as key stylistic elements integrated with the slot’s “movie poster art style” which will be accompanied by “blistering guitar tracks.”
Implications
Brokered by Creative Licensing Corporation through Studiocanal, this deal represents a groundbreaking attempt at preserving and enhancing stylistic elements of global pop figures and themes through slots.
It also represents the most hands-on involvement to date of the filmmakers themselves, as Microgaming forges a reputation for preserving the key filmic elements of those they ink new slot deals with.
The Iconic Fans Segment
Creative Licensing’s Stephanie Kupperman celebrated the fact that many “iconic characters of the original film are featured in the slots,” all the way to associating the original actors themselves, “including Christopher Lambert as Connor MacLeod, Roxanne Hart as Brenda Wyatt and Clancy Brown as The Kurgan.”
Kupperman further expressed her organisation’s optimism for film fans “to enjoy revisiting this epic story, and seeing their favourite heroes and villains in game format."
Outlook
Tapping into film fans to expand player volume on a sustained basis would generally represent a significant expansion in slot branding reach, and a true marketing triumph for Microgaming.
