Online casinos feature a variety of slot titles, many of which can be found on casino floors. But where are some of the classics, a player wonders:
Why don’t the manufacturers put older slots on their online casinos? I have several favorites that are retired locally and can’t play anymore. Sea Monkeys, Solstice Gold and African Treasure for example.
Elizabeth C.
Some classic casino titles have made their way to the online realm. Classics like Cleopatra, Double Diamond and Cats are just a few of the examples that IGT has ported to the online world, for instance.
There are a few reasons why a particular game may not have made the leap so far – let’s go over them.
Rights Issues
This is a common issue when it comes to something in one medium being released on another. When the music industry began its shift to digital content, for instance, there were plenty of gaps in records that were simply not available online. Over time those gaps have gotten smaller, as more records that were unavailable have become available for listening or buying.
The same goes here. Not all games released by slot manufacturers were developed internally – they will often license games to release onto casino floors. But that means the online rights may not be held by them, especially on older titles where such an idea did not exist yet.
Sometimes, the manufacturer who released the original game will ultimately negotiate to put the game out online as well. Other times, the company that developed the game may release it themselves instead (this is the case for many of the slot titles developed by High 5 Games, for instance).
But in some cases they have, at least to date, not been released at all. That’s not to say they won’t in the future, but this is the state of affairs right now.
A Focus On the New
Many players get exposed to new games on the casino floor, and they’re more likely to take that recent affinity to those same games online. So there’s definitely been an effort by some manufacturers to get newer titles online more quickly, so they’re available at the same time.
Light & Wonder has been particularly aggressive, so that games like Ultimate Fire Link Cash Falls are already available in physical casinos, online real money casinos and even their social casino apps all at once.
Limited Resources
Online gaming is still a fraction of the overall industry, although it’s growing. But that means the resources will tend to be more limited for releasing games, and so there will be prioritization.
As the online divisions get bigger, and look to have more games to release, the libraries of games each major developer has will be a natural to review and select games from.
And more companies are working on their online strategies – Anaxi, the online gaming arm of Aristocrat, has finally begun releasing titles from the venerable Buffalo series online, including the original and Buffalo Gold.
Takeaway
If your favorite old school games aren’t online now, they may very well pop up in the future. Online gaming is still somewhat in its infancy, so expect an acceleration and growth over the next few years that will see it available in more markets, with more games to choose from.
Fortunately for us, there isn’t a physical limitation on casino space in the online world, so more games can be available for play.
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