Tie-in or based-on
Culture theme
Anything created as a tie-in product to something else or based on someone else's creation.
Tie-in is officially sanctioned product based on something, often commissioned by by the owner of the original though often enough they're licensees who acquired rights to make games based on the product. The rest are just based on them, likely have author concession to make them, based on things in the public domain (such as fables, fairy tales, etc.), or are free fan works or parodies.
This is a container group; its children are:
| Boardgame Tie-in | A videogame based on a proprietary real world boardgame. Not necessarily using the same rules; it may use the same characters for instance. | 1976 / 2017 | 244 games |
| Book tie-in | Based on a book or made into a book. (too short) | 1975 / 2021 | 805 games |
| TV cartoon tie-in | Based on or were made into a cartoon show. (too short) | 1981 / 2017 | 746 games |
| Celebrity Tie-In | Features at least 1 celebrity for the sake of featuring them. (too short) | 1988 / 2014 | 14 games |
| Comic tie-in | Based on or made into a comic. (too short) | 1979 / 2018 | 436 games |
| Commercial mascot | Even commercial mascots can be protagonists of video games. (too short) | 1991 / 2011 | 26 games |
| Fairy tale basis | Based on any traditional fairy tale. (too short) | 1980 / 2017 | 36 games |
| Grimms' Fairy Tales | Based on any of fairy tales attributed to or found in the Brothers Grimm collection (last edition of which contained over 200 stories), very few of which were actually written by the brothers themselves. | 1983 / 2015 | 42 games |
| Linux Mascots | Tux the penguin, and all his friends. (too short) | 1999 / 2015 | 36 games (35 characters) |
| Movie tie-in | Based on a movie or made into a movie. (too short) | 1975 / 2020 | 1938 games |
| Organization Mascot | A mascot designed primarily to promote an idea for an group (especially but not limited to a non-profit group) rather than for a profitable product. | 1 game | |
| Organization Tie-in | A tie-in for an organization (especially but not limited to a non-profit one) rather than a for-profit business and/or product. | 1 game | |
| Tabletop Game Tie-in | A videogame based on a real world tabletop game. Not necessarily using the same rules; it may use the same characters for instance. | 1986 / 2017 | 17 games |
| Theme Park Ride tie-in | Tie-in with a real thrill ride / theme park ride. (too short) | 1988 / 2003 | 5 games |
| Tie-in variants | (too short) | container group | |
| Toy Tie-in | Based on a real toy or series of toys. (too short) | 1983 / 2014 | 215 games |
| Traditional Tie-in | (too short) | 1981 / 2015 | 44 games |
| Game show tie-in | Based on or inspired by a TV game show. (too short) | 1982 / 2014 | 326 games |
| Live action TV series tie-in | Based on or made into a non-animated TV series. (too short) | 1971 / 2017 | 655 games |
| UVL Maintenance: Generic tie-in tag | Needed when migrating the tie-in game type to tags, now these games have to be tagged more specifically. | 1981 / 2021 | 2259 games |