Building a connection between a customer and an original game can be hard. You only have a few seconds to pitch the art style, likeable characters, machine design and entertainment value as the player walks or scrolls past. All the while, they are looking around at the competition surrounding you, directly comparing what they are offering against yours.
How popular is nostalgia in marketing right now?
This is not a unique battle in casinos, either. There has been a significant shift towards pre-existing intellectual properties (IPs) in retail and traditional video games in recent years. Rather than selling pyjamas with simple animal pictures on, high street stores are relying on Hello Kitty and Mickey Mouse to sell their stock. Games such as Fortnite have partnered with Marvel, Stranger Things, DC Comics and Dragon Ball to bring iconic characters into the game, which have mostly been met with great success.
Even a large portion of TV and film releases rely on pre-existing IPs at the moment, so it is no surprise to see the gambling industry jump on this trend too. In a world where sequels, prequels, spinoffs and remakes reign supreme, it creates a difficult environment to launch a new, original character or concept.
The success of using pre-existing IPs to sell products is down to social conformity, a built-in audience, reduced marketing costs, and established brand recognition. Once you add nostalgia into the mix, you can offer someone an escape from the turbulent, unstable experiences of adulthood into the warm, fuzzy feelings of their childhood through emotional connections to the brand. It offers a reprieve, no matter how brief.
How are casinos using nostalgia?
Last year, Konami Gaming released a Bomberman slot that featured the beloved protagonists from both Bomberman Blast and Bomberman Boom. The games also use recognisable imagery from the games, first released in 1983, such as brick walls, eggs, power-up symbols and the bombs themselves.
Brian Green, COO of Graton Resort & Casino, where the Bomberman slot game debuted, said: "Bringing a retro icon like Bomberman to the casino floor is a powerful combination of nostalgia and pure adrenaline."
Inspired already has several products with recognisable IPs, including Monopoly, Pac-Man and Space Invaders. Scientific Games recently launched an omnichannel suite of Jurassic Park games, which saw sales 161% higher than similar products without the IP.
Next week at Ice Barcelona, we may finally see the first new games born from the partnership signed between Evolution and Hasbro last summer. At least three new Monopoly-themed live casino titles are expected to drop, but the online slot titles remain a mystery.
Some of Hasbro’s biggest IPs include Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Guess Who, Furby, Transformers, Power Rangers, My Little Pony and Peppa Pig. While we might not see Miss Pig or her growing family headline an online slot game any time soon, it is immediately clear that Hasbro still has the potential to draw in an older demographic.
Other studios, such as G.Games, blend recognisable IPs with a general sense of nostalgia. Some of the studio’s titles include Retropia, Cthulu, Solitaire, Snake and Squeak.
What could this mean for the future of gambling?
If these nostalgic, IP-centric games continue to thrive, then it would not be surprising if the industry shifted in this direction in the second half of the year. The wow-factor of these ideas is still strong and fresh to many customers, especially with new partnerships being made all the time.
But how will these titles fare in the long run? Licensing IPs for products is expensive, and even if studios are seeing a 161% increase in sales for IP-related products for now, it is difficult to say whether this momentum will continue as the novelty wears off.
Using nostalgia may be a tried-and-tested method for customer acquisition, but these companies will have to back these releases with quality content if they want them to contribute to customer retention, too. Perhaps, in a twist of irony, the best way to keep the customer’s attention would be to continue releasing sequels of these games, much like the consumer is used to from the wider media.
As this article was being written, Sega announced that Ecco the Dolphin will be making a comeback – it remains to be seen whether he will appear in any Sega Sammy products
