Iron Bank, the recent slot title from Relax Gaming in collaboration with CasinoGrounds, has squeezed in and claimed our Slot of the Week.
Lauded as the ‘industry’s first’ community-led slot title, the high-volatility game transports players to Cuba where they team up with criminal mastermind, the Jaguar, to try their luck at striking gold in the Iron Bank and land a maximum win of 49998.9x their bet.
Earlier this week, Simon Hammon, chief product officer at Relax Gaming and Tobias Svensen, CEO of CasinoGrounds, spoke to CasinoBeats to discuss the development process between the two companies and whether community-driven content is igaming’s ‘next big trend’.
“Relax and CasinoGrounds have been working together for some time in our promotional efforts around game releases. When we discussed a potential game collaboration it seemed to just make sense. We are a studio that is pushing for the very highest quality on the market and believe the CasinoGrounds team recognised this commitment early on,” noted Hammon.
“To them, we were a studio that was keen to put their needs first, and we were eager to explore what a collaboration could be. Ultimately, any studio should be focussing on what the end user wants and needs. This was another opportunity to showcase our ambitions to push boundaries and put players first. The project is the first of its kind, and after nearly a year in the works, we are looking forward to unveiling the results.”
“When Relax approached us with their idea CasinoGrounds instantly had a good feeling…”
Tobias Svensen, CEO of CasinoGrounds
Asked why CasinoGrounds chose to work with Relax Gaming to develop this slot, Svensen claimed that the company’s key focus was to ‘find a studio that has a great understanding of streaming and its community’.
He continued: “When Relax approached us with their idea CasinoGrounds instantly had a good feeling about their openness and willingness to give us complete creative freedom.
“As CasinoGrounds is built by slot enthusiasts, the ability to translate our passion and knowledge into a product was the number one motivator, but naturally there were also many other factors involved. Our previous positive experiences of co-operating with Relax on other activities and ideas also influenced our decision.”
During the base game, if players land three bonus symbols it triggers the free spins round. Once activated, players are presented with different heist strategies, each one bringing various levels of volatility.
Players can then select either Sticky Mystery Symbols, Expanding Re-Spin Wilds and Progressive Multiplier Wilds depending on their risk appetite, while a buy feature can take them straight to the height of the heist.
When questioned about the future relationship between Relax Gaming and CasinoGrounds, Hammon said he is ‘keen to see’ how Iron Bank ‘resonates with players’ before taking on another project.
He added: “What this experience has shown us is the value of working with the right partner – a partner like CasinoGrounds who are passionate and have a genuine love for slots – which we will obviously consider when approaching future collaborations.”
