MG have enough budget I think, I don't know the exact reason but I expect they just couldn't renew the licence for whatever reason. As for Game of Thrones - I guess each actor has to agree to their rights being used, I don't watch it but doesn't the cast change quite a bit? Pretty sure I heard they kill off characters left right and centre - could be a pain to keep relevant if they use actors?
My opinion, I know as much as you guys.
Mark
The LOTR series was agreed for three slot variants, and something happened that was much more than the license just expiring and MG finding they couldn't renew. By far the biggest clue was that the Tolkien estate sent lawyers after the film makers arguing that they never owned the rights to anything other than the movie, and that their spin off merchandise, and in particular the various gambling machines, was not allowed. It further appears that this argument had been running for about a year before it became public. It looks more like MG decided to move themselves out of the firing line by aborting the development of the third slot and reskinning the second with a Batman theme, but keeping it. In business terms, a wise decision, but it's the cover up and BS excuses about it "being pulled because it proved unpopular with players" that muddied the issue. It's quite possible that we now have that LOTR 3 slot, but we don't realise this because it's called "The Dark Knight Rises".
I also remember that when the first LOTR was released, there was some pretty pedantic guidance sent to affiliates that dictated in some detail how they were allowed to write up their game reviews. It was absolutely forbidden to so much as mention the book, or it's author. Everything had to be related to the film. There was also to be no mention whatsoever of the character Gandalf in any game review, and the name of the slot had to be written EXACTLY in a specified manner, including which letters had to be capitalised, and that it had to be referred to as "The Lord of the Rings", and not "Lord of the Rings". There has been nothing like this since, we can say "The Dark Knight", "Dark Night" or even TDK, no one cares so long as whoever is reading the review can understand what game it's about. This pedantic detail regarding the promotion of LOTR suggests that the legal teams of the film studio and MGS knew that producing a slot game was "skating on thin ice", and despite taking care, they eventually fell through this ice and had to distance themselves from this lawsuit. They probably felt that any mention of a connection between the book or author and the slot game would cause the Tolkien estate to bring on a lawsuit, but in the end it seems the Tolkien estate was "touchier" than their worst fears.
We are now seeing the same thing with Marvel slots, although it's a controlled withdrawal, rather than a knee-jerk reaction from a lawsuit. Disney (who now own Marvel) have simply decided that once current licenses for gambling games expire, they won't be renewed. You will not see any "legal" Disney themed slot game anywhere as their policy has been to foster a "family" image, and gambling does not fit well with this.
I remember when RTG had to suddenly rename a few of it's slots, including "Rapunzel" due to "legal concerns" some years ago. Players were puzzled because the authors of the original Rapunzel" story are long dead, and so the characters should be out of copyright. However, I now have the benefit of a 5 year old great niece, and it turns out that Rapunzel qualifies as a "Disney princess", and this is an obvious clue to RTG's "legal concerns" over the original name for what it now "Roberta's castle".
(all in good fun of course @ 243=daft, mate!)
