Interactive


GAME DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IGT


Testing the water Advocating the benefits of trials


G3 talks to Michael Brennan, IGT’s Vice President, Product and Lifecycle Management, about the importance of the company’s Test Bank process and the current trends in slot machine gaming


Is there too much of a focus on non-traditional gaming right now, as opposed to the core product offering?


Michael Brennan Vice President, Product and Lifecycle Management, IGT


Test Banks – a culture that started 10 years ago with GTech, in which every single IGT core video game on release is placed in the market in a controlled environment. We have partners across the globe who install our software for free, allowing games to sit on their floors for 90 days. The performance score at the end of the three months determines if we are going to release the game


P72 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA


At IGT, we want to participate in the “skill plus chance” space with unique products, while not losing sight of the fact that our bread and butter products, those that appeal to the broadest customer base, remain the core games segment.


We have a partnership with Chill Gaming and at present we are live at Station Casinos’ Graton Resort and Casino in California, and in Melbourne Australia, with Bloomtopia and Fortunes of the Brave games, both of which are skill plus chance products.. It’s no secret that we’re seeking to convince operators of the different performance metric and value proposition of having these machines on their floors, as it’s a concept that’s aimed at exposing new players to the world of gaming.


I firmly believe, however, that you can be just as innovative and creative with core games as you can with non-traditional product. I think a core game such as the newly released Hexbreaker 3 is a great example of this. It’s a key release for us that’s already GLI approved, with a global release the day before G2E, Hexbreaker 3 is based on a familiar IGT brand that's been very popular in North America.


We’ve brought this property to a curved cabinet with a mechanic that’s never been seen before, in which your 'Ways' – the number of ways to win – changes as part of a dynamic reel mechanism that changes the win outcomes, paying left to right and right to left. It's unique


and as innovative as anything you'll see on the exhibition floor.


Ultimately, it's about striking the right balance between providing great performing ‘bread and butter’ games and innovating cautiously, ensuring that we don’t subject our customers to the full exposure of experimentation.


In order to achieve this, IGT uses Test Banks – a culture that started 10 years ago with GTech, in which every single IGT core video game on release is placed in the market in a controlled environment. We have partners across the globe who install our software for free, allowing games to sit on their floors for 90 days. Te performance score at the end of the three months determines if we are going to release the game or whether we are going to pull it


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