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Microgaming is still one of the world’s leading online slots companies, with a collection of more than 800 games available to gamers in Canada and more than 70 other countries around the world. Online gaming has come a long way from its early days. No longer bound to the sketchier corners of the Internet, modern online casinos are so accessible that they could even be played as a mobile casino from your phone.
Over the years, online gaming has had many developers come and go. These game makers work day in and day out to continually bring you exciting new gaming experiences. But of all of these, one developer, in particular, holds a uniquely legendary reputation in the community: Microgaming.
Most significantly, Microgaming has continued to expand in tandem with the development of the Internet, paving the way for the multi-billion-dollar business that we now know and love today. Microgaming has achieved several significant milestones, including the debut of the world’s first online slot game, the first online casino for mobile platforms, and the creation of the world’s first branded slot game, to name a few.
Let’s get the headline out of the way. Yes, Microgaming is indeed one of the pioneering developers in the online gaming space. Founded on the Isle of Man during the early days of the World Wide Web, Microgaming developed the world’s first online gaming software in 1994. This software would serve as the backbone of the world’s first real money online casino, which would simply be named “The Gaming Club”.
Interestingly enough, The Gaming Club is actually still going strong today and continues to showcase Microgaming’s latest and greatest gaming experiences. As the Internet continued to grow and evolve, Microgaming continued to innovate along with it. With mobile technology entering the mainstream in the 2000s, Microgaming casinos followed suit with the world’s first mobile casino software, which they launched in 2004.
Of course, being the first to do something doesn’t automatically make you the best at doing it. Luckily for us, Microgaming had no intention of resting on their laurels.
One of the keys to Microgaming’s enduring success is their strategic move to partner up with popular franchises. Taking advantage of their dominant status in the online casino industry, they moved to ink licensing deals for the rights to produce some classics like the Jurassic Park slot game, Terminator 2 slot, and the Lara Croft franchise.
The fusion of these beloved IPs with Microgaming’s vast industry experience resulted in some of the most highly regarded slot games in online casino games. A couple of examples like the Immortal Romance game and Jurassic Park still get thousands of players thanks to their timelessly enjoyable gameplay.
Even still, Microgaming continues to keep gamers on their toes with fresh graphics and clever new game mechanics. The mid-2010s in particular saw them partnering with one of the most epic TV series of all time, to produce the Game of Thrones slot game, which featuring gorgeous thematic visuals invoking the spirit of Westeros.
Another smash-hit release from Microgaming was Lara Croft: Temples and Tombs, the third installment of their Lara Croft tie-in slot games. With multiple layers of mechanics set against the backdrop of a gilded Egyptian tomb, the game really gets you into an adventurous mood.Â
Another of Microgaming’s landmark innovations is their Mega Moolah slot game series. As the name implies, these games feature extremely large progressive jackpots—massive grand prize pools that constantly accumulate with more plays.
The defining feature of the Mega Moolah series is its networking feature, which consolidates the grand prize from all games under the Mega Moolah banner. By accumulating jackpots from multiple games at the same time, Microgaming is able to grow the Mega Moolah jackpot to astronomical heights.
Most notably, Microgaming set and still currently holds a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest jackpot payout in an online slot machine game. This jackpot awarded the lucky player **17.8 million euros** or just over 20 million US dollars.
Of course, it would only be a matter of time before this record would eventually be broken. And it was—by none other than Microgaming itself. In 2018, an anonymous player was able to net the Mega Moolah jackpot from a 75 cent bet, which instantly made him a staggering **18.9 million euros** richer. To date, Mega Moolah still holds the largest progressive jackpot for online slot games and has paid out hundreds of millions of euros to lucky patrons over the years.
Another aspect of Mega Moolah that continues to draw in new players is the method of payout. In all of the instances mentioned above, each jackpot was paid out to the winners as a lump sum. This sets Microgaming apart from most other big jackpots that would typically pay out the prize money to the winner over a period of months or even years.
At the time of writing, Microgaming is very much alive and kicking, continually coming up with new releases and pushing the envelope of online slots. In fact, just this year they released updated versions of their Jurassic Park and Game of Thrones-themed slots, with state-of-the-art graphics and fun new mechanics that allow players to pursue even bigger payouts.
There has been some talk about Microgaming losing its touch with other developers in recent years, especially considering that Microgaming had shut down its poker and bingo games network last year after over 15 years of operation.
However, this in no way indicates that Microgaming is winding down. News of the closure came after a change in the company’s strategic direction, the conclusion of which found that Microgaming would find more success in putting more resources into online slots, which has been at the core of their business since the beginning.
From its humble beginnings as the founding father of online gaming, releases from Microgaming Slots continue to be mainstays in the online gaming space. With over 200 employees growing its portfolio of over 800 games, it’s safe to say that Microgaming Slots is “micro” in name only.
As new technologies enter the mainstream, Microgaming appears committed to riding the waves and continuing to innovate. And yet, even if they disappeared tomorrow, Microgaming Slots has already established a legacy that cements itself as a legend of online gaming. If anything else, this means that we will be seeing Microgaming Slots for many more years to come.
