The Lord Of The Rings Branded Slot

Normal online slots can last for ever. But branded video slots have an expiry date based on the agreement with the copyright holder. Most of the time, the licensing agreements keep getting renewed, but sometimes they are terminated. In rare cases the termination is disruptive. This was the case of The Lord of the Rings online slot game, easily the most hyped release in the online casino history. The epic saga is retold here for the newer players at Canadian online casinos who may have missed out.

In February 2010 Microgaming announced a multi-year licensing agreement with Warner Bros for developing video slots based on the popular The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. The video slot based on the first movie titled The Fellowship of the Rings went live in September 2010 at all Microgaming online casinos like All Slots, Royal Vegas and Jackpot City. The introductory clip that played while the game was being loaded recreated the audio visual magic of the movie. A new feature called Cinematic Spins was introduced. The reels faded out while they were spinning and a popular clip from the movie was played across the screen. The slot game had 243 ways to win, a structure that had become immensely popular.

The characters from the movie appeared as the high paying symbols in photographic representations. They included Frodo, Sauron and Galadriel. When the characters appeared in winning combinations their dialogues from the movie were played. The Lord of the Rings logo is the stacked wild symbol. The Ring awards scatter payouts and triggers free spins in which a random reel is turned wild.

While players were waiting for the slot game based on the second movie of the trilogy, Microgaming released a revamped version of The Fellowship of the Ring in September 2011. Gollum the Hobbit, who was once the owner of the Ring, was added. He could randomly award players with features and bonuses. This slot game was linked to the four-tier Mega Moolah progressive jackpot.

Suddenly in June 2012 the slot game was withdrawn from all Microgaming online casinos. The problem was a dispute between Warner Bros and the original rights holders of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, that were Harper Collins and the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien. The two claimed that Warner Bros had gone beyond the limited merchandising rights given to them. They specially objected to awarding the license for the Microgaming branded slot, which being a non-tangible property was not covered. In order to avoid getting embroiled in the law suit Microgaming withdrew The Fellowship of the Rings online slot.

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