Playtech to add Jumanji themed live casino games to its portfolio after making yet another deal with Sony Pictures for the live dealer space. (Image from Courtesy of linkedin.com/posts/Playtech)
Recently Playtech announced another deal with Sony Pictures, this time to bring out live casino game titles using the company’s Jumanji film and board game as the theme. The news of the deal came out on Playtech’s Linkedin official social media channel.
Previously I reported on the substantial ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ deal with Sony Pictures that has since seen the introduction of Playtech branded live games shows. Who Wants to be a Millionaire Roulette Live which comes complete with a bonus game using the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire game show questioning format. There has also been a free to play trivia version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire that came with prize pools.
We fully expect Playtech to follow the same line of game releases, i.e., the release of a Jumanji themed roulette table with a ‘trail map’ or ‘board game’ style bonus. Of course, this is just speculation and following in the line of the Who Want to be a Millionaire deal.
Sony Pictures owns the subsidiaries responsible for the Jumanji franchise – TriStar Pictures created the first version while Columbia Pictures released the most recent Jumanji movies starring The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) and popular comedian/actor and entrepreneur Kevin Hart. In addition, Sony Pictures directly owns the Who Want to be a Millionaire brand.
I am not entirely sure whether Playtech has the European or global markets as a whole planned for the Jumanji themed live games.
US Market Mentioned: One thing is for certain, the Playtech US iGaming arenas, Michigan and New Jersey (Playtech has live studios in both states), are certainly on the cards. The reason I mention this is because Playtech’s CEO mentions the expansion into the US on its LinkedIn post announcing the Sony Entertainment agreement, which you can see below.
Will we see another live video slot entering the Playtech live portfolio?
There is probably already plenty of speculation out there in regard to a Jumanji live video slot title. Although this is certainly quite possible, I would go as far to say it is unlikely. I say this by comparing the new Jumanji deal and the possible outcome of game releases with the Who Wants to be Millionaire deals with Sony Pictures.
We have seen Sony make deals with Big Time Gaming (BTG) resulting in the creation of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Megaways (2018), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Mystery Box (2019), and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Megapays (2021). In 2022, we also saw Electric Elephant release a Who Wants to be a Millionaire roulette title in conjunction with Relax Gaming.
With these video slots already released, Playtech probably decided a live slot was not needed. Instead, it went down the road of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Live released in late 2021. This is likely the direction Playtech will take Jumanji.
On top of all this, I still haven’t mentioned the deal with the Jockey Club in the UK, one of the oldest horse racing organisations in the country. We are yet to the result of this partnership but will hopefully soon see a live casino game themed on horse racing.
Playtech CEO Hints: There is already a hint of what’s to come after Playtech’s CEO mentioned the game ‘Jumanji the Bonus Level’ in his statement on the Linkedin post which I have embedded into this post. It’s an interesting overall statement of the Jumanji deal and should fans of the Jumanji franchise be excited.
Playtech’s Recent Live Game Releases
The Playtech live casino platform is perhaps not as active as Evolution with its new game releases, but there are still interesting developments. We know game releases slowed over Covid, but it was Evolution that has come flying out the traps while we are also seeing a flood of new brands joining the live casino scene.
With years of experience in iGaming, Playtech’s bigwigs know they need to continue refreshing the live casino brand, and it has certainly done just that with the latest Sony Pictures + Jumanji deal. Although seemingly earmarked for the US, we hope to see the Jumanji themed games in live casinos holding MGA, UKGC, and Curacao (CEG) licensing too. Let’s wait and see what happens.
For now, let’s look at some of the new games released by Playtech’s live channel:
- Safari Riches Live Video Slot (MGA, UKGC, CEG markets)
- Money Drop live wheel of fortune titles (MGA, UKGC, CEG markets)
- FashionTV Jackpot Baccarat
- Well Well Well live wheel of fortune (Betway only)
- Dedicated Mega Fire Blaze Roulette Studio for William Hill Casino
Playtech Live Casino Awards: Watch this space because Playtech is up for a few awards. At the 2022 EGR B2B Awards, Playtech is nominated for ‘Live Casino Supplier’ and ‘Aggregator Platform’ platform of the year, and we’ll report the winner of these categories on 17 June 2022, a day after the 16 June 2022 event takes place in London.
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