Since the 1980s, video gaming has gradually taken the entertainment industry by storm. From arcades to home consoles to handheld gaming to virtual reality experiences, as technology has developed, gaming has only increased as a diverse and popular form of fun. Of course, it’s only the most recent entry into the gaming bracket. Before video games, there were board games, card games, and casino games. The first recognized slot machine arrived in 1894, long after roulette but well before the video game was even conceived of. Being two forms of gaming, you can bet that there are plenty of ways to compare video games and slot games, and as time has gone on, many similarities have been introduced.
The Aim to Entertain
Both slot gaming and video gaming boast incredibly vast libraries of products that cross all kinds of genres, themes, and gameplay mechanics. The aim in all instances is to entertain the user, with the approach being to give them captivating visuals, a clear path to increasing the entertainment value in-game, and the opportunity to be rewarded for playing in some way.
Of course, the two forms of gaming go about this in very different ways. Slot gaming is very much its own genre, with the basic premise and mechanics mostly being the same. Whichever popular slot game is picked, the player knows that it’ll be a case of pressing to spin and seeing if they win. The differences come in the theme, the volatility, the number of reels and rows, and the design of the features and win mechanics.
One of the reasons why video gaming is so universally popular is because of its variety. Some people enjoy video games because they have multiplayer and social elements, others like to explore new worlds and stories, and some just really like a challenge. Like in slot gaming, even games of the same exact genre and setting differ in the use of gameplay mechanics, what the challenge is, and how players need to go about getting a win.
Video Gaming Drawing from Slots
Slots have been around for over a century, growing in popularity across casino floors to the vast digital libraries online. Noticing the popularity of slots and the elements that make them popular, many video game studios have now leaned into very similar formulas. In slot gaming, much of the entertainment comes from purely randomized results, some of which offer larger returns on the amount wagered, complete with explosive graphics online.
Looking at modern online slots and the area of loot boxes and gacha gaming side by side, and there are easy comparisons to draw. The biggest proponent of deploying slot mechanics in games is Electronic Arts, which stands to make over $1 billion from its highly monetized random-chance player packs in EA Sports FC 25. The most on-the-nose rendition, however, is found in Take-Two’s MyTeam mode in the NBA 2K games, which features a slot.
Whether it’s the latest expansive open-world RPG or a new Megaways slot game with more paylines than ever before, the goal is always to provide the best entertainment for players, and in some ways, the two mediums even borrow from one another.
