We’re all susceptible to the influences of pop culture. What’s trending on Netflix, the latest who’s who in the movie world, the top recent songs, the newest fashions. Speculations on celebrity weddings, discussions about casting for movies, talk of breakups and makeups, and everything in between – whatever it is, there can be no denying that in our always-on, information-rich world, pop culture has a life of its own, and it often imbues other sectors with that life.
While picking apart how something moves into the pop culture umbrella could be ten articles in itself, there’s no question about it: once something has entered the global consciousness, its influence spreads like wildfire.
What Games Get Influenced By Pop Culture?
There are some obvious answers to this, but we’re going to start with some of the less obvious ones – the games you might not immediately think of. If you look at a page like Ozoon casino games in Canada, you will very quickly see just how far the influence of popular culture has spread.
Take, for instance, Thor Hammer Strike. Influenced by Greek myths, sure, but we all know what truly made this game popular: the Marvel movies, where Thor is a larger-than-life good guy out to save the universe, even if he doesn’t totally “get” life on earth. And yes, you guessed it, this game features Loki as the bad guy. What a surprise! And in the same vein, there are plenty of other options, like 3 Pots of Gods, 3 Pots of Olympus, and more – Greek myths are hugely influential in this sphere.
What about Call of Booty? We all know what that’s playing on, and yes, it’s another game, but we can’t question that Call of Duty has had a huge impact on the world around it. It often averages over 100,000 players, and even though that number has dropped off somewhat in the last year, it’s still popular enough to have inspired this slot!
Or there’s Blue Beard’s Buried Treasure, Hold and Win. Drawing its inspiration from pirates in general, sure, but also more specifically from the POTC franchise, and dipping into our ongoing fascination with the high seas.
And if we widen the lens a little, we’ve got Hockey Enforcers, a game that doubtless enjoyed an uptick in attention after the recent Olympics, and the ongoing fascination with this beloved game in Canada.
If you want more picks, there’s 1960 Elvis Guava, for the beloved singer and the king of rock and roll, Alibaba’s Cave of Fortune, for our fascination with the Arabian Nights tales, Aiko and the Wild Spirit for a more recently found love of anime, Alice in Fortune Land and Alice Wonderluck for Lewis Caroll’s well-recognized stories…
We could carry on for quite a while longer! The game developers certainly have, drawing inspiration from all corners of the world and tapping into their creativity in many different ways.
But slots are just one example of where popular culture has left its mark. What if we zoom out and look at the wider gaming landscape?
How Have Bigger Games Been Influenced By Pop Culture?
Having explored the microcosm of slots, it’s not going to surprise you to see how influential pop culture has been in other spaces.
First up, a big one. FIFA, the digital game based on what is often referred to as the beautiful game. Football. Attracting over 100,000 players at its peak on Steam alone, this one reflects our world’s obsession with football and individuals’ desire to be part of the magic that happens on the pitch. With the World Cup around the corner, we’re likely to see even more focus on digital variants like FIFA.
And maybe that doesn’t wow you, but would you be interested to learn that some of our very earliest and most beloved gaming characters were also based on pop culture? Remember Popeye, the sailor man? Well, he was the inspiration for Mario, and if you take a look at their hats… A lot of work went into the designing and naming of this character, and while he’s unquestionably unique, you can certainly feel the influences that went into creating him. What’s funny is that Mario was originally going to be a sailor, but they chose another blue-collar profession for him – and wow, did it work!
“They started calling the character Mario, and when I heard that, I said, ‘Oh, Mario’s a great name — let’s use that.”
Miyamoto, 2015.
There are many, many more examples, of course. What about the game Cars 3: Driven to Win? The much-loved animation sowed the seeds for that game, of course. And if we look to the horror genre, we’ve got Friday the 13th: The Game – a blunt title that expresses just how much this work leaned on the popular horror film. It’s a wonderful demonstration of the way we keep reimagining the things that we love, shaping and exploring them in different forms
What’s more, it’s very clear just how well this works. Mario is nothing like Popeye, yet takes something of the soul of the working man’s character, and enjoyed immense popularity – the first game, released in 1985, quickly became one of the most popular ever, and sold 40 million copies. Not bad!
There’s no doubt that going forward, we’re going to continue to be influenced by the rich tapestry of culture all around us; we’re going to continue drawing from it, both consciously and subconsciously. Pop culture is many things, but perhaps most importantly, it’s a source of ongoing inspiration, a mine of ideas and crossovers and evolutions and developments and “what ifs.” The creatives of today’s world have so much to look at and explore – it’s the perfect time to be imagining.
