SUNSHINE GAMES
Sunshine Games holds the key to the US for Merkur Gaming US
Casino International met Mike Halvorson, Chief Development Officer for Sunshine Games, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the Gauselmann Group that is ready to open the door to the US slot market.
T Mike Halvorson. Chief
Development Officer, Sunshine Games
32 MAY 2018
he recent NIGA exhibition in Las Vegas was notable for Gauselmann for a very special reason – it marked a Merkur Gaming US stand with gaming product created by its US subsidiary. Game
development in the United States is now handled by Sunshine Games, headed up by Mike Halvorson, and based in Las Vegas. The NIGA exhibition showed eight titles from Sunshine Games, a very quick turnaround for the growing studio, and a genuine show of faith from Gauselmann in this young company. Mike Halvorson explained the company’s evolution
and much more in conversation with Casino International at their Las Vegas headquarters.
Casino International: Mike, how did you come to Sunshine Gaming? Mike Halvorson: I started in gaming in 1997, out of college. My father owned a company that provided 3D software; we lived in Minneapolis, and he loved Las Vegas and visited often. We moved out here and formed a third-party game design firm eventually. My dad did software, and I learned all about software development from him; we did that for everybody, and we got into developing systems for customers. I learned a lot and I don’t think there is a gaming market in the world I haven’t developed something for. I actually have LinkedIn to thank – I found my
previous position on that site, and I found this job there too! I had many conversations with Charles Hiten, the CEO, and he has a different level of
experience that I had not really encountered before. I have worked with operators, of course, but Charles has a knowledge of operations and that side of the business that is at least equal to mine in the area of game development. It’s insanely deep, and he has been all over the world. So, the studio is based here in Las Vegas. It’s compact facility that is very efficient and we are not wasting space.
CI: How was Las Vegas a benefit – apart from being the spiritual home of gambling? MH: We have a lot of resources in Las Vegas, and I know a lot of people who are in development which helped a lot when it came to recruitment. When you are starting up a new studio, you need people you can trust. Starting a studio – even with the backing of a multi-billion-dollar Group such as Gauselmann – is a big challenge, and there is simply no guarantee of success. it is incredibly hard. Starting anything new is hard. My first instinct was to get the best possible people that I could trust. The guys I brought on board are great, they work as hard as I do.
CI: How do you go about developing a game though – there is no recipe, after all, for success – or is there? MH: The thing I have learned in over 20 years of making games is that you absolutely do not know what is going to succeed. If you think you do, you are lying to yourself. If you are positive about the product you make, and you are proud of it and you
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90
