Age of the Gods Series Shows Playtech Can Create Its Own Icons

It’s been a few years now since Playtech lost the rights to using Marvel superheroes to brand its headline online slot games. The story is complicated, but essentially Disney did not want to be associated with casino games, and subsequently would not renew the contract with Playtech when they purchased Marvel back in 2009. The licensing expired in March 2017 (it was a long-term agreement with Marvel), leaving Playtech with a big gap in its slot library.

As any followers of Playtech will know, they followed a two-pronged approach to replacing Marvel games. The first was to court DC Comics (essentially, Warner Bros) and instead use their superhero creations to brand a ton of games. Everything from modern movies like Justice League and Suicide Squad to the vintage Batman TV series has been covered.

AOTG has directly replicated Marvel

However, the second tactic by Playtech was to bring a whole new branding with the Age of the Gods series. Many of the AOTG games are almost identical to the Marvel slots. For example, AOTG Prince of Olympus is based on the Incredible Hulk, and the original Age of the Gods slot is based on X-Men.

While some movie fans will enjoy the excitement of seeing new DC-branded slots rolling out at Playtech casinos like William Hill and Slots Heaven, which you can learn more about at uk-online-slots.co.uk, there is nevertheless a growing fanbase for the AOTG series. Indeed, going by the prominence given to AOTG games on most sites, it is clear players are voting with their gameplay time.

So, what makes AOTG better than DC Comics slots? It is, of course, a matter of subjective opinion, but some would argue that AOTG have struck the right balance between simplicity and excitement. The bonus features, while both lucrative and eye-catching, don’t rely on meaningless flashy images, nor is there unnecessary filler in the game. The point is that a nice balance has been made between branding and gameplay.

DC Games can have too much filler

Of course, that doesn’t mean that Playtech have completely dropped the ball with DC Comics games. They have attained a good level of popularity with players, although perhaps not having the same impact as Marvel games did. Yet, while you can see the positive side of branding from a developer’s perspective, after a while the movie content in the form of clips and audio gets a bit boring and unnecessary. Playing a session of, for example, Batman Begins slot can expose players to the same clips from the movie over and over again.

Indeed, buoyed by the success of the original handful of AOTG games, Playtech has moved to launch a few new additions to the collection in the last few months. It remains to be seen if AOTG Medusa and Monsters, Mighty Midas or Rulers of Olympus will stand the test of time, but they are adding value to a collection that has become a huge part of Playtech’s repertoire in a reasonably short period of time.

Moreover, because the AOTG series draws on Greek myths, it has a wide tapestry of themes, stories and ideas to draw inspiration from. Mythical slots are nothing new to be fair, but Playtech seems to have had the right approach by using this deep pool for great themes, without getting overly bogged down in the ‘story’. It seems to be working so far, with Age of the Gods meaning players aren’t missing those Marvel slots at all.