In the latest edition of its Roadshow showcase series, Yggdrasil outlined its roadmap for March, announcing the launch of six new slots to be released across the next month.
The igaming supplier announced the upcoming release of in-house developed title E-Force, scheduled for March 28, in addition to collaborative slot titles with YG Masters partners 4ThePlayer, Peter & Sons, Reflex Gaming and ReelPlay.
The March Roadshow, hosted by Alexander Lapinniemi, Key Account Manager at the Yggdrasil, saw Yggdrasil’s Sebastian Belton discuss the company’s upcoming easter-themed slot, while Henry McLean, Co-founder, Commercial & Marketing Director at 4ThePlayer followed up by showcasing an Irish-themed slot.
Additionally, Yann Bautista, Global Business Development Manager and Co-Founder at Peter and Sons, outlined an upcoming ‘Book of’-style game to round off the Roadshow.
E-Force was the first slot on show, with Sebastian Belton stating that “there is nothing else quite like it on the market.”
The Yggdrasil slot title has combined action-packed features with an Easter-theme using rabbits dressed up as famous action film stars, such as Indiana Jones, Kill Bill, RoboCop and Rambo.
A 5×3 reel slot, the game includes a free spins text symbol that is used to trigger the free spins mode, while also acting as a wild feature that substitutes for paytable symbols.
Commenting on the upcoming release, Belton said: “The team really wanted to make something that was wholly original and separate from anything else that’s already out there in the market.
“Classic action heroes are something everyone enjoys and there’s a lot of memorable characters,” added Belton, outlining the decision to incorporate well-known characters into an Easter-themed release.
“It’s something everyone associates with and people are going to play the game and go ‘oh that’s you know’ they’re gonna know at least one of them, maybe most will know a handful and that familiarity is a really great way to introduce someone to a slot game.
“Here at Yggdrasil we do a very wide variety of slots from more serious games to things that are a bit more fun, and we feel like this one is a step out of our traditional comfort zone.
“We’ve gone for something with a bit of humour and we’ve tried to incorporate that Easter feeling into it to make it a really fun experience for our customers.”
When questioned whether E-Force can become a successful slot outside of the Easter holiday, Belton was “100 per cent” certain that the action-hero characters can give the slot some longevity.
Belton continued: “I think the game has been designed in a way for it to have a long-term prospect outside of the Easter period.”
“Obviously, it has been made for Easter, but however the game doesn’t necessarily have to be associated with Easter. You can play it at another time in the year.
“The main overriding time is the classic action-hero aspect, and the sense of humour, so I think that will carry it beyond the Easter period and well into the rest of the year and hopefully it will become a long-term-sticking prospect with customers in the long haul.”
Next up was McClean of 4ThePlayer, joining Lapinniemi to showcase the company’s latest slot scheduled for March 7, 3 Lucky Leprechauns.
This Irish-themed slot title uses a 5×3 reel set to provide a maximum win of up to x5,000 the player’s stake with an RTP of 96 per cent.
Pointing out why the supplier developed 3 Lucky Leprechauns, McClean stated that 4ThePlayer “do try and create a game with a purpose.”
“So, with this game, we wanted to respond to players that find large maximum wins unattainable and a bit of a turn off. So we wanted to do an achievable max win which is x5,000 on the ladder.
“We also wanted to make sure that casinos could allow players to play, but not have a big liability on their balance sheet, because a lot of casinos are saying that these really big max wins are causing a lot of issues, so it is best from the casinos’ and the players’ point of view.”
In terms of keeping players entertained and engaged, McClean outlined how the studio kept this in mind when designing the game, stating: “We also wanted to create a game that’s very frequent and very active for the player.
“There’s lots of talk from players at the moment that, to get on the bonus round it’s one in 400, one in 500 spins, and especially in the UK and other markets where you can’t bonus-buy, that is just not a very fun experience.”
“We really listened to player feedback and made the feature frequency much lower, currently one in 75, which you could argue is x4 less than a lot of slots released at the moment. Through that, a lot of players will get on that feature and will get something fun and entertaining for their money.”
Finally, Lapinniemi was joined by Bautista, to look at Peter & Sons’ latest collaborative YG Masters slot, Book of Books, set for release on March 16.
Suggested to be inspired by the 1975 Monty Python film, The Holy Grail, Book of Books is a 5×3 reel slot with 10 paytable symbols and two bonus feature symbols in scatters and wilds.
“The whole game is about collecting power apps in the base game to trigger a really good free spins experience,” said Bautista, explaining the key components of the gameplay.
“In the game, you have three types of collections; on the top left you have a free spins collection, on the right you have a multiplier collector and in the base game you have a simple collector.
“When you get a scatter you either get two scatters or you collect one/two free spins or the multiplier. The idea here is that the scatter is the book with the Holy Grail.”
Moving on to the mathematics behind Book of Books, Bautistsa outlined that it is a slot with very high volatility which caused the Peter & Sons Co-Founder to detail that the whole experience revolves around the bonus free spins game mode.
He continued: “I feel like this is going to be very appealing to hardcore players that want to go straight to the free spins, which you can do through the Buy Bonus.
“During the base game, the idea was to have stuff happen there, such as the collections, and for normal players, you don’t want to enter too quickly because you want to be collecting during the base game to build a huge potential.
“The base game is nicely balanced because you’re still getting wins all the time… but like I said, the whole experience is on the free spins.”
