Some series have been so successful that today, they have become international franchises. Toys, figures, posters, t-shirts, board games, and memorabilia keep the post-production money rolling in.
Perhaps the most profitable side of these franchises is the co-creation of online games, which come with the TV-series logo and characters and loosely follow the storyline. The same has happened in the movie business with popular productions like Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Terminator, and Indiana Jones. I think Back to the Future would have been there, too, had it continued.
Why have series become so popular?
Due to the ease of access to paid and free on-demand streaming services and most satellite and cable companies offering on-demand viewing, TV series are the new fad. They have always been popular on domestic TV channels before on-demand streaming, but the budgets were minuscule compared to today.
In essence, series have become extended movies, but they offer hours of entertainment rather than just a couple of hours. Viewers have more time to build a bond with the characters, and talented scriptwriters have the skill to keep the series fresh from one episode to the next. In the case of series with multiple series within, like Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones, scriptwriters can keep the anticipation going for years.
The bond is created between the viewer and the characters, and the anticipation that always leaves you guessing can have an ever-lasting impact. Just utter the words ‘Game of Thrones,’ ‘Breaking Bad,’ ‘The Walking Dead,’ ‘Friends,’ and ‘Vikings,’ and most movie fans, turned series bingers will know exactly what you are talking about!
Below, we’ll look at how some of these series franchises still live on in the worlds of online gaming and real-money casino gaming!
Game of Thrones – no surprises here!
Unlike the series itself, which is full of unexpected surprises, including the terrible series 8 ending to what would have been the best series in the world, there is no surprise that online gaming and casino game development companies picked Game of Thrones to add to their game portfolios. HBO made several deals with gaming companies, including Telltale Games, Cyanide Studio, Turbine, Inc., Microgaming, and Australian land-based and online casino giant Aristocrat.
Online Gaming Industry
The Game of Thrones TV show has spawned a bunch of video game adaptations over the recent years. Fans can explore different parts of the fantasy world through these games.
- A Game of Thrones: Genesis (2011): The first Game of Thrones game came in 2011 in the form of a computer strategy game created by Cyanide Studio, a French video game developer. It maps out the history of Westero based on ‘A Song of Ice and Fire.’ It starts from when the First Men first arrived and goes up until the era in which the TV show takes place.
- Game of Thrones (2012): There’s also a 2012 action roleplaying game for PCs and consoles. It creates new characters whose adventures crossover with moments from the hit show’s first season. Cyanide Studio created the game, then published by Atlus USA in North America and Focus Home Interactive in Europe and Australia. It gained massive popularity in the USA, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK.
- Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series (2014): One of the most popular Game of Thrones games came out in 2014. Created by Telltale Games, it’s an episodic graphic adventure game for computers and gaming consoles. Players control members of House Forrester, a family loyal to the Stark clan. The game’s story happens alongside the TV show’s plot during seasons 3 through 5.
- Game of Thrones: Conquest (2017): More recently, a 2017 mobile game called Conquest has some strategic elements. Players can build their own houses and armies in this MMO game. Thanks to the innovative creative gaming studio Turbine, Inc., you can become a self-proclaimed lord of Westeros!
- Game of Thrones: Beyond the Wall (2020): A 2020 mobile game centers around the Night’s Watch leading up to the show’s timeline when it is time to defend the wall against the White Walkers. The developers behind this amazing mobile RPG game are Behaviour Interactive and GAEA Mobile.
Online Casino Industry – 4 Game of Thrones Online Slots with Free Spins Bonus Games
There was no surprise the Game of Thrones franchise would make its way into online and land-based casinos. Complete with a famous soundtrack by German-Iranian composer Ramin Djawadi.
- Game of Thrones 15 Lines (Games Global): Released just after Game of Thrones season 3 and at the beginning of Q4 2014, you can only imagine how popular this online slot was with casino players. It is also game-packed with features to help players net real money wins. A Game of Thrones Bonus Game, a Free Spins bonus, Multipliers, Wildcard symbols, and only a house edge of around 4%.
- Game of Thrones 243 Ways (Games Global): Released in 2014 at the same time as Game of Thrones 15 lines, this ‘ways to win’ online slot uses no pay line technology for players to line up wins. It has the same popular features as Game of Thrones 15 Lines, such as the Game of Thrones bonus and free spins bonus game.
- Game of Thrones Power Stacks (Slingshot Studios): This online slot came out 2018 between seasons 7 and 8. It was a 4-year wait for another Game of Thrones video slot, and like its two predecessors, it was an instant hit, and it still is today. It is popular because the house only has a 3.6% RTP in most regions. Plus, yet again, it comes bustling with features like a free spins bonus, the chance to win jackpots via an innovative Power Stacks feature, respins, Hold and Spin, and more ways to land real money wins.
- Game of Thrones (Aristocrat): This slot is available online, and as Aristocrat also supplies land-based gambling venues, you may even find this slot game available in UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand slot shops and casinos as well as in US casino venues. Once again, another slot filled with features like free spins, bonus games, bonus symbols, respins, and wildcard symbols. However, the house edge is a little higher than the other slots at around 5%.
What is Game Thrones about? For the long version, take a look at the ‘WHEN IS THE NEXT GAME OF THRONES SERIES?‘ movie article. And here is the short version – Over eight seasons, this epic series explores thought-provoking themes around how power can corrupt people, why loyalty matters in difficult times, the danger of betrayal, and the often brutal cost of reaching for authority. Viewers ponder these philosophical questions with supernatural threats facing the war-torn world looming in the background.
By mixing political drama with dark fantasy, “Game of Thrones” has become an international hit that keeps viewers on the edge. The show’s unpredictable storytelling and exploration of universal issues drive its suspenseful narrative forward.
Breaking Bad Series Franchise Makes it into Real-Money Online Casinos
There is an official mobile game based on Breaking Bad, and after I did a little digging, one of the largest UK online gambling firms, Playtech, has formulated a deal with Sony Pictures to bring a Breaking Bad online slot to online casinos across the globe. The ploy behind the partnership is to celebrate 15 years of Breaking Bad.
Breaking Bad Mobile Game
Breaking Bad – Criminal Elements: This strategy-based mobile game certainly requires some parental guidance. Why? The name of the game is for players to build and manage their drug empire, inspired by the TV series’ storyline.
Breaking Bad Online Slot
The deal with Sony Pictures will begin with an online slot. As Playtech also deals in land-based casino entertainment, the Breaking Bad Slot machine game will likely become available in casinos, slot shops, and high-street sports betting venues. However, most people prefer to play online because the versions come with casino bonuses. On one popular online casino games and news portal, Casinoplusbonus, its no deposit free spins bonus page mentions that a free spins bonus gives players a chance to win real money from bonus money earned through free spins.
Something I don’t see in casinos or land-based venues. Therefore, I assume the new Breaking Bad slot is going to become more popular online versus the land-based version, thanks to these free spins bonus offers.
What is Breaking Bad about? If you have not watched this series, maybe it is time to try it. It goes into the life of a talented science teacher, Walter White, who underachieved. I say he underachieved because his former business partners own a billion-dollar company. After some bad news diagnosing him with lung cancer, he worries about his family’s financial future, and from here, things turn a little crazy.
He teams up with a former student, Jesse Pinkman, and creates the best crystal meth the US market has seen. His wild journey into the criminal underworld, along with his student, is filled with multiple viewpoints from Walter White and Jesse Pinkman’s families, the DEA, the dealers, the cartels, and the carnage the business of crystal meth brings.
Narcos and Narcos Mexico Series – Already several online slots!
Unlike Breaking Bad, which has just formulated a deal to bring the series to online slots, Narcos and the Narcos Mexico series already have online slots available in real-money online casinos. The deal was between an online casino slot developer. NetEnt (owned by Evolution), and Gaumont International Television.
- First slot release: Narcos
- Second slot release: Narcos Mexico
Both online slot games capture the essence of the Narcos and Narcos Mexico series, featuring characters, themes, and narratives inspired by the show’s dramatic portrayal of the drug wars in Colombia and Mexico. Both games come packed with features that online slot players enjoy the most. For example, a free spins bonus round, multipliers, wild card symbols, respins, and gamble features.
What is Narcos about? Narcos covers the rise of the Colombian and Mexican drug cartels back in the 1980s and 1990s. It follows true events, but the series has also been dramatized, as you would expect. Although the storyline can glorify the cartels and the money side of the drug business, the series focuses on the real heroes, the DEA agents. The plot begins with the Narcos series, which follows the fight to take down Pablo Escobar and his Medellin cartel over two series, and the third series focuses on taking down Rodríguez Orejuela brothers’ Cali cartel – the KGB.
Next up is Narcos Mexico, which starts in the era of the pre-Escobar and Cali cartels with Mexicos’s Sinaloa cartel following the story of the boss of all bosses – Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (El Padrino) and DEA agent Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena, who is a DEA hero, who was the man that meant DEA agents were off limits to hit men despite cartels putting contracts on their heads.
More Popular Series Adopted by Online Gaming and Casino Game Developers
That’s just three series we’ve covered here in this comprehensive overview. There are many more to cover beyond the scope of this series of game blog episodes. However, we won’t leave you hanging. Here is a list of more online games and online slots you will find with either computer games or casino games based on the series plot.
Online Slot Games with Free Spins
- The Walking Dead: Playtech created several variants of this series – The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead 2, and The Walking Dead Cash Collect online slots. You may also find these games in land-based venues.
- The Walking Dead: Aristocrat also created several variants, including The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead 2, available at online casinos and in land-based venues across the globe.
- Friends: Created by Light & Wonder (5-reel, 4-row slot offers 40 pay lines)
- Vikings: Created by NetEnt (5-reel, 3-row slot offers 243 ways)
- Sherlock Holmes: There is no shortage of slots based on Sherlock Holmes. One of the most famous is Holmes and the Stolen Stones by Yggdrasil. Also, Sherlock Holmes’s The Hunt for Blackwood by IGT is popular.
- Big Bang Theory: Aristocrat, once again making deals in the TV industry, created a popular slot in 2018 called The Big Bang Theory based on events in the series.
- South Park: NetEnt was the brainchild behind this slot after making a deal with South Park Studios to bring the game to online casinos.
- Family Guy: IGT (International Game Technology) released Family Guy as an online and land-based slot game in 2015.
Online and Mobile Games Based on Series
- The Walking Dead: The Walking Dead by Telltale Games tells a new story with new characters making their way through the zombie apocalypse. This episodic adventure game lets players experience the tense choices and dire situations that make the TV show so compelling.
- Stranger Things: A game for mobile devices, fans can explore the spine-tingling setting of Hawkins, Indiana, while solving puzzles using characters and locales from the hit Netflix series. Just like the show, the game captures 80s nostalgia and a sense of mystery.
- Star Trek: This online game allows players to boldly go where no one has before. Fans can create a captain, pick their crew and ship, and embark on missions throughout the epic Star Trek galaxies. With space combat and planetside adventures, this MMORPG lets people immerse themselves in Trek lore.
- The X-Files: Deep State: This mobile game puts players in the shoes of Mulder and Scully to investigate paranormal cases using hidden object searches. Like the agents on the TV series, users must find clues and connect to unravel supernatural mysteries.