How Do Slots Developers Choose Their Themes?

If you’ve ever played slot games then you know that they are fairly simple games of chance where you try to complete a combination of matching symbols for a win. Yet, you might be surprised to see the variety of themes that they now cover, so how do the developers choose what to base their games on?

Following Existing Popular Themes

Take a look at a big online slots collection and certain themes will stand out. These include games that cover the idea of hunting for treasure in ancient temples in Egypt, the Americas, or elsewhere. Others are based on Vikings, magicians, and other timeless characters from popular culture.

Many of these common themes were already present in land-based slot machines before the switch to online casinos caused a revolution in the industry. It was a natural choice for developers to seek inspiration from the most popular slots already around, and some of them were even directly translated into online versions.

In many cases, the theme simply extends to the image on the main symbols, so an Egyptian-themed slot might have the legendary Cleopatra, a pyramid, and the eye of Horus among its top-paying symbols. Yet, we’ve also seen creators become more adventurous in recent times and add in features or bonus rounds that delve deeper into the theme, and we’re likely to see more of this as the sector diversifies.

Looking for New Trends

There are now dozens of slot developers around the world, each of them trying to create eye-catching new games that people want to play. This means that they need to be aware of the latest trends that might make a suitable basis for their next slots.

Slots based on gold mining and fishing are a couple of the latest themes that have caused a splash in this industry. We can now see a growing number of games based on these subjects, with each developer taking a different approach to the same theme and producing something unique.

What could future trends involve? It really just depends on what subjects prove to be popular next. We can see a smattering of slots based on less popular themes such as skiing and punk rock and if any relatively new theme like this becomes hugely popular then we can expect to see many similar games hit the market quickly, as developers can create new games speedily by using an existing game with a fresh skin on top together with some minor changes.

Tie-Ins with Big Brands

Getting a tie-in with a big brand like a movie or a TV series is a risky venture, as it’s likely to cost the developer money to obtain the rights to use the names and images. This is probably why the number of branded games is relatively small just now, with Gordon Ramsay and Deal or No Deal among the few slots we can see based on a big brand name.

However, it can work impressively well as a way of creating new slots with a broad appeal that helps them reach new audiences. It’s yet to be seen whether casinos feature more or fewer branded slots in the future but for the moment there’s definitely space for them in the market.

The way that the slots industry has progressed this century means that we’ve seen many changes, but it’s reassuring to note that they continue to offer the classic themes while still having new ideas that add to the variety on display.

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