New Tomb Raider Slot By Microgaming In The Works For 2019

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15 years ago Microgaming launched the very first branded slot game Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. then began one of the biggest trends in casinos online.

That is, of course, the fact that every year casino game studios have to announce one big branded game a year. Last year we got Jumanji and Vikings slots from NetEnt, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire by BTG, or even the Nitro Circus by Yggdrasil Gaming.

Every studio has a couple under their belt, and the big studios ensure they have a couple every year.

Well, 2019 is no different, and to kick start the trend, Microgaming looks to the past to make a splash in the New Year.

What we know about the New Lara Croft Tomb Raider slot

The problem with branded games is that, once the license runs out, the guys who own the name and pictures can pull out, and your favourite slot can disappear.

So goodbye Marvel slots once family-friendly Disney got their hands on the brand, and goodbye Aliens slot and South Park games once the licence wasn’t renewed.

It doesn’t matter if it was a good game, or a bad one, they can all fade away in a moments notice. Microgaming are clearly the exception to the rule.

A 15 Year partnership with Square Enix still going strong

For those of us who don’t play Video games, Square Enix is a Japanese video game brand that has created far more iconic games than you might think.

From Final Fantasy, to Just Cause, to the modern success of the Life is Strange Series, it’s got a great back catalogue of games. But none are as iconic as Lara Croft, the fearless heroine who (as the myth goes) got her larger than average assets from a code glitch.

Andrew Clucas, Chief Operating Officer at Microgaming, comments: “We are incredibly excited to announce the renewal of our historic partnership with Square Enix to develop a new Lara Croft online slot game that honours and builds on the brand’s massive popularity in the gaming industry, film and beyond.”

Beautiful, British, and bold, she has no fear of what she might find exploring the latest ancient artefacts and tombs. And we get to see her in all her glory on our reels yet again.

Is this going to be the Shadow Of The Tomb Raider slot?

Released in September 2018 it makes the most sense for Microgaming to use the beautiful visuals already created for the games.

Here’s a look at what we might find in the game:

Pretty epic right? Of course, nothing has been confirmed, and we’ll get to see real footage of it come the first week of February, at which point (we promise) you’ll be the first to know if we are right.

That said, they would be idiots if they didn’t use the latest series of games as inspiration, even if the titles don’t quite match up.

Square Enix will no doubt want to build on their success of the series, especially as Shadow of The Tomb Raider video game is meant to close the reboot of the series that started in 2013.

It makes sense is what we are saying.

Technically, this will not be a Microgaming Tomb Raider game

Confused cause the title of this post is called “New Tomb Raider Slot By Microgaming in The Works For 2019”?

Well, it is, technically.

But in case you haven’t noticed, Microgaming has not been releasing very many new games recently; look at their schedule of Microgaming January slots, and of the three, only one is truly theirs.

More than create new slot machines, they now aggregate new casino games from lots of smaller studios, providing them to casinos over their Quickfire platform.

Basically, they’ve become like a Netflix: they get lots of content together for casinos to stream to your home, they have some original programming, but the bulk of the games are made by other people.

This will be a Triple Edge Studio slot game

No, we didn’t lie about this being a Microgaming mobile slot, mostly because Triple Edge Studios are owned by Microgaming and create content exclusively for them.

So if you want to play Triple Edge Studio slots you have to go to Microgaming casinos.

Why would you want to play on Triple Edge? Well, you might or might not, they have a mixed record, but not a terrible one. Most of their video slots are actually quite good.

Their first big success was when Microgaming gave them the Playboy brand to create something new, and they did. The Playboy Gold slot came out in March 2018 and we were suitably impressed.

It was sexy, it was fun, it had great mechanics. If Triple Edge can strike lightning twice and do as good a job with Lara Croft, we’ll be happy.

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Will this new Lara Croft slot be any good?

It is, of course, way too early to tell. The fact we are getting the news now, and will probably get to see some of the game in February, means we’ll probably see it come out soon.

How soon can we expect this new Tomb Raider mobile slot game? Our guess would be Spring 2019. They won’t keep this under their hats for too long.

Whether it’s any good or not is anyone’s guess, but Microgaming has a good track record at creating solid branded games that people will want to keep spinning.

Building on successful slot machines

Let’s not forget, the original Tomb Raider slot was a great game.

But the sequel that came out in 2008, the Tomb Raider Secret of the Sword slot was even better, and to this day we know many gamblers, long in the tooth, who still pop in and take a spin now and then.

In fact, if we are honest, we are one of them when we play online casino. Old habits die hard, you know?

“We look forward to continue working with Microgaming to develop another successful branded online slot game, following the top performances of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider™ in 2004, which marked the industry’s first ever branded slot partnership, and Tomb Raider: Secret of the Sword™ in 2008. We are excited to see a new action-packed Lara Croft adventure launch to the iGaming world” Janet Swallow, Vice President of Licensing at Square Enix West.

So there’s a rich history here to build on, even if technically this history is being passed on to an up and coming studio with a mixed track record (looking at you Snow And Sable slot).

Lara Croft will surprise everyone come Spring 2019

Lara Croft is one of the most iconic and popular characters in the world.

Since she made her debut in video games in October of 1996, the franchise has amassed lifetime sales of over 67 million units. That makes her the best-selling video game heroine, ever.

And yeah, sure, her films haven’t exactly been hugely successful, but a movie was made of her just last year, even though the previous two were stinkers.

You can’t keep this lady down in modern pop culture, and we suspect that this new mobile and table slot will continue her legacy.

Whether it’s the legacy that she’s not as good as she used to be, or the legacy that she’s as popular as ever… only time will tell.