Is Microgaming About to Kick Off a Franchise Trend in Slots?

Online slots have served to expand movie and TV franchises for some time, with the popular iGaming titles often helping to bring more viewers to a certain entertainment release on the big or small screen. Microgaming has wide experience of boosting franchises after creating slots like Game of Thrones and Bridesmaids, but now it appears as though the Isle of Man-based developer is looking at boosting its library by extending one of its most popular games into a series. Could this be the beginning of a new trend in the industry?

Mega Moolah is Iconic

Mega Moolah is one of the most iconic and influential slots on the market and has paid out over $1 billion since its release over ten years ago. It put the progressive jackpot subgenre of slots on the map, and has been in the news numerous times because of the staggering wins it has awarded. Indeed, Mega Moolah has broken jackpot records on a number of occasions as it has tussled with NetEnt’s Mega Fortune for the top spot. The Microgaming title currently holds the crown for the highest payout after one lucky player claimed €18,915,872 in September 2018.

The prize money has reached such incredible amounts, due to the fact that all the Mega Moolah slot games are linked, and the money invested in them accumulates. Eventually, it is paid out to one winner randomly like a lottery. Each year, there are huge wins reported in the news. Despite some of these wins being numerically higher, the Guinness World Records recognizes British soldier Jonathan Heywood’s £13.2 million win in 2015, as the biggest jackpot won on any online slot game in internet history.

New Games are All About the Huge Wins

The first new title that expanded the Mega Moolah franchise was Atlantean Treasures: Mega Moolah, which was released more than a decade after its predecessor. The game features a completely different theme to the original, with this one being set underwater rather than on the plains of the Sahara. But the games are connected in that the progressive jackpot from the new game, is linked to the main jackpot prize of Mega Moolah. This means that there is the potential for the wins from either of the games to be even bigger than those that have already come before.

Because of the popularity of this new instalment, Microgaming has decided to bring out another game to extend the series. This is Absolootly Mad: Mega Moolah, which is also linked to the progressive jackpots on the Mega Moolah network. Just like Atlantean Treasures, this title has its own unique theme. It takes inspiration from Alice in Wonderland and features fantasy elements. The regular game can dish out wins of up to 2,343 times your stake, but there is the potential for much more if you hit the progressive jackpot.

Other developers may be forced to follow in Microgaming’s footsteps and extend their progressive slot franchises. Otherwise, they may not stand a chance of beating the industry powerhouse for the biggest jackpots. With NetEnt and Playtech in a fierce scrap with Microgaming to be the top iGaming developer, it would be reasonable to expect them to release sequels to their most popular games as well.