In today’s world, almost all media tends to turn into a franchise, especially if it's successful. It’s simple, really – people are comfortable with what they know, but new products need to be rolled out. In the case of Age of the Gods live casino games, though, this process took a bit of a strange turn. Industry giants Playtech managed to merge their acclaimed online slot games with live dealer titles, which was almost unheard of.

So how did they do it? And, perhaps more interestingly, why did they do it? Strap in for Livecasinos.com’s dive into the Playtech pantheon of award-winning games.

What is the Age of the Gods?

In short, it’s an acclaimed series of 5-reel online slots games with a progressive jackpot. The progressive jackpot is perhaps the most important piece of the puzzle for our story. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

A bit of background first. Playtech is not exactly a young developer who needed to innovate to beat the bigger sharks. They’ve been one of the leading names of the online casino industry since the turn of the century. The number of successful releases they had over the years would be difficult to count. However, one series managed to stand out as their flagship project – Age of the Gods.

At first glance, this title didn’t seem to have too much going for it. The theme of Greek mythology was already somewhat played out at release. The presentation wasn’t much to look at either. However, the plethora of features and symbols seemed to captivate audiences, and the Jackpot was the crown jewel.

There is no special nuance here if you’re wondering how to play Age of the Gods slots. The progressive jackpot was not exactly an original concept either. However, the title quickly turned into a series, with multiple titles released in collaboration with multiple developers.

The Jackpot unified them all – the progressive pot was shared between multiple separate games. This resulted in jaw-dropping returns if you were lucky enough, which only served to drive up the numbers.

Thematic, cross-platform live casino games

Before 2017, Playtech largely remained in their chosen niche of producing top slots games. As live dealer casino games became more popular, though, they needed a way to break into that scene. What better way to do so than by using an established brand such as Age of the Gods?

They did have other, run-of-the-mill releases such as their roulette games. However, to truly stand out from the crowd, they needed a good twist on the old recipe. A strong theme is what Playtech are good at making – and this series had a theme in spades. Presumably, this served as a starting point.

Enter the Age of the Gods Roulette. This was the first true attempt to ever bridge the gap between slots fans and live casino enthusiasts. For the first time ever, players were able to see the Greek mythology of the series brought to life. With colorful sets mimicking ancient temples and a signature stone betting table, the game certainly caught one’s attention.

Again, however, live dealer roulette games with a strong theme were nothing new. The true takeaway here is that this game is connected to the rest of the franchise with the progressive jackpot feature. With the pot total shared across platforms, players were quick to jump into experiences they otherwise wouldn’t.

The Signature Age of the Gods Jackpot

So, how does the Age of the Gods jackpot work, and why was it so successful? Essentially, playing any game in the series gives you a small chance of triggering the Mystery Jackpot. This applies to both slots and roulette spins, of course, and all of these pool into one jackpot. As a result, winning the jackpot can yield massive returns.

Once it’s been triggered, players are presented with a unique minigame to determine the reward. There’s not much to the game itself – you flip symbols until you get 3 matching ones. The symbols you get will determine the size of your reward, with 4 options. Here they are, ordered by size:

  • Extra Power.
  • Super Power.
  • Ultimate Power.

The premise itself is simple, but connecting game types in such a way was unheard of. Though it seems a minor thing, the numbers speak for themselves. Becoming one of the biggest projects by an industry giant such as Playtech is no small thing, after all. And this rather unremarkable series of slots games did it.

Combining Slots and Live Table Games

The story of this series clearly doesn’t end there. With the release of 2020’s Age of the Gods Bonus Roulette, it’s clear Playtech will continue trying to innovate. Specifically, this new game features actual slots as a part of the roulette. Essentially, they took American roulette and turned one of the zero sockets into a bonus slot.

If a player wins this bet, a single-line slots game is used to determine what they win. Again, nothing too groundbreaking, but it spices things up just enough to keep your attention. You can read all about it in our Age of the Gods Bonus Roulette review.

It’s also fairly clear that Playtech has lofty goals for the series. In fact, there’s evidence to suggest that creating a franchise is what they set out to do. They needed a strong brand after Marvel and DC licences expired in 2017. Greek mythology was already there with all the colourful characters they could want – no pricy licences needed!

Conclusion

The story of Age of the Gods can be used as a case study on how to create a gaming brand. It has also produced some of the most interesting live dealer games in recent memory. The possibilities of the future of Playtech live casino games are still probably the best part, though. Wherever they decide to go with the Age of the Gods series, you can be sure that LiveCasinos.com will tell you all about it.