By Mark Seavy

The growing consolidation of the gambling industry—from casino operators to smaller game developers—is fueling new interest in licensing nostalgia-based titles, according to executives at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas last week.

Not that licensed slots, table games, and internet-based titles ever went away. International Gaming Technology (IGT), for example, has been a licensee of Sony Pictures Television’s Wheel of Fortune for slot machines for 30 years. There is now, however, a deepening reliance on nostalgia to appeal to casino players across generations and stand out in an industry filled with thousands of internally developed and licensed titles.

For years, the gaming industry has vacillated between focusing on licensed brands and internally developed ones. But lately, licensed IPs have gained the upper hand as companies consolidate and as royalty rates (10-20%) and terms (including upfront fees ranging from $300,000 to $2 million) have become more reasonable, said an executive at Bluberi, which launching a licensed slot machine with rapper Anthony “Sir Mix-a-Lot” Ray, who topped the Billboard Charts with the song “Baby Got Back” in 1992.

Indeed, mergers and acquisitions have been flourishing in the casino business.

IGT recently combined with financial technology company Everi under the ownership of Apollo Global Management and is embarking on a rebranding while readying new versions of its Wheel of Fortune slot machines as well as another offering featuring the rock brand Queen that is due in summer 2027, said Boris Hallerbach, Director of Premium Content at IGT.

Meanwhile,  Galaxy Gaming and Evolution, which specializes in iGaming and signed a 10-year licensing agreement in 2023 for Galaxy titles, recently called off Evolution’s planned acquisition of the company after two years of negotiations. On the casino operator side, MGM Resorts is discussing making a bid for Barry Diller’s People Inc. after People Inc. earlier called off plans to buy the resort and casino operator, whose holdings include online sports book BetMGM. And Fertitta Entertainment recently completed the $17.6-billion acquisition of Caesars Entertainment.

“Part of it [the renewed interest in licensing] is that as companies change and go private, licensing is a faster way for them to get in front of their customers,” said Matthew Primmer, Chief Product Officer at Aristocrat Gaming, which recently gained a Monopoly license for slot machines and is planning a version that combines the board game brand with four of its own IPs, including Buffalo and Timber Wolf. “It also plays into our hands in looking at our portfolio and being very deliberate about what is a real advantage versus having to move something forward because it is the only thing available.”

If showgoers were looking for new, nostalgia-free licensed IP, it was in short supply at the Global Gaming Expo. Rapper Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s agreement with casino equipment supplier TCSJohnHuxley for Headcrack, a standardized table (blackjack, craps) game version of the three-dice street game Cee-Lo, was among the few offerings that covered more recent IP. Aristocrat launched the National Football League Super Bowl Jackpots in 2023 and also introduced the second generation of its House of the Dragon slot machine at the tradeshow.

But other new launches with a nostalgia twist included Merkur Gaming’s The Jetsons-themed slot machine, which marked a return to casinos after a 12-year absence for the series that first aired on ABC-TV in 1962, as well as Ainsworth’s slot machine revival of the Playboy brand, which will launch this fall in Latin and South America. The Playboy brand was previously deployed in slot machines for land-based casinos by Bally Technologies in 2015.

And Konami will introduce an updated version of its Bomberman IP, which was first introduced for videogames by Hudson Soft in 1983, with a 73-inch LCD slot cabinet that is due in summer 2027. Konami also deployed its Frogger brand (first introduced for videogames in 1981) for slots in 2016 and acquired the Bomberman IP in fully merging with Hudson Soft in 2012.

“It is not the newest show on TV but rather content that has stood the test of time that has done the best in casinos,” said an executive at a company that specialized in iGaming. “Any license that has nostalgia, luck, chance, or money tends to fair very well. And do not underestimate the halo effect. If a player comes in and sees Monopoly on the casino floor, there is a bit of an association and there is a lift that makes the casino fun and trustworthy.”