The Most Popular Music-Themed Games of Today

Music never really played a major role in the gaming industry outside of providing a soundtrack, with racing and sports games being the only consistent genres which used real-world music and tracks. That all changed in 2005, though, with the music-themed games spanning from the seismic release of Guitar Hero.

The game was revolutionary and inventive, offering players the chance to perform famous tracks from the ages on controllers that mimicked instruments. Millions of copies – which weren’t cheap by any means – sold around the world, perfectly fusing video gaming with music. However, the seemingly unstoppable waves of these games very quickly died out, with the publisher oversaturating its own market, cancelling production just six years after they broke onto the scene.

With the colossus Guitar Hero failing to make it work long-term, developers quickly moved back to tried-and-trusted genres, with the spotlight seemingly deserting music-themed games. However, in the years since Guitar Hero, a new form of gaming has risen to the fore, one which has embraced the music theme and built several popular and innovative games to suit the genre of gaming.

A new home where music and games come together

The key to rejuvenating the former success of music in gaming was to innovate the gaming space while paying homage to legends of the field. This combination shot Guitar Hero to stardom. Of course, there have been several attempts to mash music and games together, but the worthy online slot games selected by genesiscasino.com/en-gb have managed to innovate the gaming space itself while also honouring the subject. While iGaming seems like an unexpected source for music-themed gaming, a wide range of titles have been able to perfectly blend the music and iconography of famous bands with intuitive slots gameplay.

Innovation is a vital component to the existing scene of music games as it’s what both rose and sunk the most popularised form of music-themed gaming. When Guitar Hero launched, it offered this exciting new way to play a game as though you were playing an instrument. The developers couldn’t evolve this, which led to its demise, as discussed at theguardian.com/technology. Among the current popular scene of music games, the innovation is clear to see, with there being two top-class studios battling on the casino platform to create the best games.

Invoking the music theme through innovative game features

The biggest scene for music-themed gaming right now is the online casino. The platform noted has the seven most popular games of the genre right now on its virtual shelves, with the two studios behind the games continuing to bring out new games and features to compete and raise the standard.

Seen as the originator of the theme in slots, NetEnt celebrated their 20th anniversary by launching a series of games in collaboration with some of the biggest acts of all-time. Entitled ‘NetEnt Rocks: The Tour,’ the studio initially released three games which remain popular to this day.

Guns N’ Roses features a greatest hits soundtrack and free spins, which fill the stage with wild band members. Motörhead is based on one of the band’s legendary concerts and has an optional ‘Rock Mode’ to amplify the experience. Then, there’s also the pastel-styled Jimi Hendrix game with its Purple Haze and Little Wing features. In 2019, due to increasing competition, NetEnt jumped back into music gaming by giving the Prince of Darkness his very own slot, Ozzy Osbourne.

Recognising that the demand for music-themed games was still out there, developers Play’n GO decided to venture onto the scene, testing the waters with House of Doom – a concept which mixes slot gaming with the heavy metal music of Candlemass. Having proven successful, the studio has continued to work on new titles alongside musicians and acts.

Next came the Annihilator slot, earlier this year, which celebrates the influence that the metal band had on music, particularly that of legendary guitarist Jeff Waters. Most recently, in June of this year, Play’n GO unleashed Twisted Sister, which has already become a favourite among spinners. Its rebellious format – as a grid rather than a reeled slot – and rocking soundtrack perfectly fuse the band into the gaming space.

Music and gaming can still go hand-in-hand, but the optimum space for the genre has shifted from consoles to the online casino platform.