Focus on IGT: Success with multi-level progressive games continues heading into 2023

January 6, 2023 8:00 AM
  • Buck Wargo, CDC Gaming Reports
January 6, 2023 8:00 AM
  • Buck Wargo, CDC Gaming Reports

Demonstrating IGT’s commitment to delivering products that drive performance, the Company’s popular MLP, Prosperity Link, recently won the prestigious “Best Slot Product” category at the 2022 GGB Gaming & Technology Awards held in conjunction with G2E in Las Vegas. The game has enjoyed an enthusiastic reception since it launched last year and ranked in the top three on Eilers-Fantini Game Performance Report for “Top Indexing” new premium games for several months.

“We’ve had a lot of success with our multi-level progressives as of late, and leading the charge is Prosperity Link,” said Roger Pettersson, IGT’s vice president of core, PMM, and market research. “It’s one of those games where you see strong results across the board. Some games perform well at some properties and don’t receive the same reception at others, but Prosperity Link has consistently gone straight to the top of a property’s performance chart wherever it is placed.”

Something the theme does well is evolving and innovating the vibrant coin pot that’s been around for about a decade. In addition to adding coins, the game incorporates money balls, wilds, and multipliers.

“It does a lot more than trigger the jackpot feature, which is historically how the element of a persistence pot has functioned,” Pettersson said. “This innovation can help the player get the bonus and get more wilds or multipliers in the free games. It adds more and different ways to win, which drives much of the appeal for Prosperity Link. We’re confident in our ability to continue to evolve these mechanics in the future and launch highly engaging MLP games.”

Currently, Prosperity Link features the titles Cai Yun Heng Tong and Wan Shi Ru Yi – both of which are offered on IGT’s PeakSlant49 cabinet with a 49-inch HD display.

“We already have more support titles in the works for Prosperity Link and received positive feedback at G2E for the next two releases for the theme: Ri Jin Dou Jin and Dian Shi Cheng Jin,” Pettersson said. “It’s been an outstanding game for IGT.”

While Prosperity Link was one of the top premium MLP games in 2022, Pettersson said they’ve also had exceptional success in the for-sale space. He called Wolf Run Eclipse “the star of the show in 2022,” and one of the most powerful themes from the “Wolf” series of games introduced over 10 years ago that continues to evolve into captivating themes.

“Players have a lot of affinity with that brand,” Pettersson said. “They love the wolf howling and exciting gameplay the MLP brings to players from the wild stacks. The latest ‘Eclipse’ evolution in the series has been a strong game for us and has brought the progressive free-game mechanics to Wolf Run. The powerful part of the original Wolf Run was the free-game mechanics, and amping that up with ‘progressive’ free games was a recipe for success that players readily respond to.”

IGT’s other in-demand MLP games include the Fu Gui Hao Men II, the latest title in the well-known theme. Pettersson called them “strong” Asian-style games that have become popular in North America in the last couple of years. “There’s been a substantial evolution of the hold and spin mechanics that make it even more enjoyable with more variety,” he said.

Additionally, IGT’s Egyptian Link offers the non-stop action of single, double, and triple feature games that have taken the “market by storm” by incorporating popular gameplay features, where a player can experience multiple combinations of bonuses for big wins. Pettersson said that IGT has had considerable success with Egyptian-style games, going back to titles like Cleopatra and others that followed.

The popularity of IGT’s MLP games is simple. “Players have loved the concept of progressive play for decades and adding multiple progressives to the gameplay experience adds more ways to win. Of course, you still have these larger jackpots, but smaller, more frequent hitting jackpots bring value and enjoyment to the play experience.”

There’s always a window of opportunity to find new, creative, and innovative ways to evolve the jackpot mechanics and continue to improve the play experience. With a considerable shift in players gravitating to MLP games in the last couple of years, IGT has responded and focused on their development.

“What IGT does that’s unique in the industry is our robust player testing program,” Pettersson said. “We have player focus groups that every game goes through before it is finalized. We also have our test-bank program, where we put games on properties through our partners in North America and can receive player feedback and review the performance of our games. Our product teams can use this feedback to continuously improve our mechanics and adapt to player preferences as they evolve.”

All of IGT’s games have curb appeal with its best-in-class cabinets, but once the player is engaged in a game, the mechanics and the math have to seamlessly come together for the fun experience the player is seeking, Pettersson said. “There are many games and iterations we are working on, and we look forward to sharing our broad and growing portfolio of performance titles with our customers throughout 2023.”