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Introducing the Winners of the 2024 Game Developer Awards
Play’n GO, Playtech, Elk Studios, Pragmatic Play and streamer CasinoDaddy were some of the big names celebrating victories at the 2024 edition of the Game Developer Awards ceremony.
Concluding the final day of the highly successful CasinoBeats Summit, the illustrious awards ceremony, which took place at the Hilton Malta, was a night dedicated to honouring the remarkable achievements of the iGaming industry.
The evening witnessed the return of veteran host Trudy Kerr, alongside award-winning game developer John Romero, as they handed out 28 awards to accomplished operators, game studios and individuals.
Award categories included:
- Game Performance,
- Streamers,
- Game Creation,
- Game People,
- SlotCatalog,
- Casino Platform, and
- Best Game Release.
Rasmus Sojmark, Founder and CEO of SBC, said: “The Game Developer Awards offers a pivotal opportunity to honour the remarkable accomplishments of the industry, celebrating both regional and global brands as well as individual talent. This year’s shortlist was by far the most competitive we have seen, and I would like to congratulate all our esteemed winners.”
It was a good night for Play’n GO, who secured the prestigious SlotCatalog’s Game Studio of the Year (Large) award for the second consecutive year, whilst also picking up the Game Music / Soundtrack accolade for their title Hugo Legacy.
The game creation categories saw:
- Playtech once again take home the Game Licensed Content award for their work on Breaking Bad: Cash Collect & Link.
- Hacksaw Gaming was awarded Game Feature of the Year for their title Chaos Crew 2,
- Relax Gaming was honoured with the Game Design & Art Direction award for Money Train 4, and
- GAMOMAT was named winner of the Game Retro-Style award for Fancy Fruits Deluxe.
Pragmatic Play notably took home two awards on the night, winning both the Game Mechanic of the Year award for their MultiHold mechanic and Slot Legacy Title for Gates of Olympus.
The SlotCatalog categories saw:
- GAMOMAT return to the stage to pick up their second award of the night for Best Game Development Company Central Europe, while
- Playson was awarded Best Game Studio In Development Countries.
- Reel Kingdom secured the SlotCatalog’s Game Studio of the Year (Medium) award,
- Fortune Factory Studios was named SlotCatalog’s Game Studio of the Year (Small) and
- IGT Play Digital claimed SlotCatalog’s Best Game Development Company North America.
The coveted SlotCatalog’s Rookie of the Year accolade was presented to industry newcomers Area Vegas.
In honour of the individual achievements in the industry, the Game People categories saw:
- Andrei Filipovich of Aviatrix awarded Game Designer of the Year,
- Julia Aliakseyeva from BGaming named Product Manager of the Year and
- PearFiction Studios’ Jean-Pierre Larouche presented with the Game Composer of the Year award.
EveryMatrix won the Aggregator of the Year award, The Mill Adventure was awarded Platform Innovation of the Year, while the Best Game Release award went to Lambda Gaming for 8Bit Football Twinko.
This year’s edition saw the introduction of two new awards:
- the FTN Game of the Year award which was sponsored by BetConstruct and presented to Rubyplay for Mad Hit Olympic First, and
- the CasinoBeats Annual Community Recognition Award which was awarded to SoftConstruct for its work on BFTH Arena.
It was a big night for CasinoDaddy who took home the esteemed Streamer of the Year award, while The Slot Beasts and Haddzy were recipients of two new Streamer awards, Responsible Streamer of the Year and Next-Gen Streamer of the Year, respectively.
In the Game Performance categories:
- PowderKeg Studios claimed the Slot Debut award for their title Munition Mines,
- Stormcraft Studios won Slot to Watch for their work on Immortal Romance 2, while
- Light & Wonder and Netflix took home Slot Collaboration of the Year for Squid Game.
The illustrious Slot of the Year award went to Elk Studios for Pirots 2.
“Last night’s ceremony was a tremendous success and proved to be a truly memorable night. I would like to thank our official partner Gaming Malta, alongside all our supporting sponsors for their help in honouring the incredible achievements of the industry” Sojmark added.
The awards ceremony concluded the final day of the CasinoBeats Summit, which saw 4,500 industry professionals convene at the InterContinental Hotel in Malta, the hub of iGaming.
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TaDa Gaming, is hoisting the Jolly Roger for a barrel full of gold in new release Lucky Macaw. An unusual grid layout sees three reels and three rows, with the centre reel holding an extra position/fourth row, plus 10 fixed paylines.
Set in Pirate Cove with the galleon anchored offshore, Captain Macaw is ready to parley with players for pirate coins and bags of gold cash symbols.
His offer is for Hold & Respin, free spins, multiplier Wilds and four fixed Jackpot prizes of Mini (10x), Minor (25x). Major (100x) and Grand 1000x for six, 10, 14 and 18 cash symbols respectively. Win values are dynamically dependent on the wager and are shown on the wooden signpost to the left of the grid.
Highly colourful and polished graphics include the compass, telescope and anchor symbols. Pirate Coins and Gold Bags are cash symbols.
Just one cash symbol may trigger Hold & Respin randomly but landing five or more in the base game will guarantee the bonus. A toe tapping soundtrack adds to the jolly pirate vibe, while a barrel of gold coins fills with every spin. If it randomly bursts its sides, the bonus Hold & Respin game can also trigger.
All cash symbols on the reels will carry over to the bonus game however it triggers and three free spins will be awarded. Each time another cash symbol lands, the counter will reset the free spins to three.
Blank positions, Gold Bag and Pirate Coin cash symbols only will appear in the bonus game and symbols will lock in place with each spin. They can also increase in value after every spin and, if players fill the grid entirely, a random additional multiplier of 2x, 3x or 5x will be applied to the winnings.
Captain Macaw is also the Wild – but with the ability to randomly apply a 2x multiplier. When several Wilds land on the reels, their multipliers will be multiplied.
For players who want quick results, the Extra Bet feature will ensure that when Hold & Respin is triggered by the coin barrel, a minimum of one Gold Bag and one Multiplier Wild to 2x will appear.
With 5000x max win and low volatility, Lucky Macaw is designed for casual and time pressed players.
Sean Liu, Director of Product Management, TaDa Gaming, said: “Having established TaDa as the home of innovative mechanics and balanced maths models, Lucky Macaw raises the game for polished visuals and smooth animations, delivering true entertainment.”
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Wicked Games has entered into a new partnership with Elantil, the next-generation iGaming platform and marketplace. The partnership will see Wicked’s full portfolio of slots and Live products distributed through Elantil’s operator network, ensuring partners worldwide can easily access and integrate Wicked’s growing range of titles.
For operators, this means instant availability of Wicked’s bold, innovative and tongue-in-cheek games, all through the streamlined Elantil platform. For Wicked Games, it marks another key milestone in scaling distribution and reaching new audiences across regulated markets.
“We are thrilled to bring our full portfolio of games to operators through Elantil’s marketplace. Working with Amnon and the team has been an absolute pleasure, and their professionalism, vision, and genuine passion for building strong partnerships made this collaboration a very natural step for us. We are excited about the opportunities ahead and look forward to growing together with Elantil and their partners,” said Khadija El Abi, Head of Partnerships at Wicked Games.
“Integrating Wicked Games into our ecosystem was not just about adding another content studio, but aligning with matching visions. Their innovation and ours align, and now operators will feel the impact in their product lineups immediately,” said John Debono, CTO at Elantil.
The post Wicked Games Enters into Partnership with Elantil appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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