Exclusive Q&A w/ Edward Byard, Founder of Crucible Gaming

Can you start off by telling us the story behind Crucible Gaming, what lead you to form a brand-new studio, and what are its long-term goals?

Crucible Gaming is an exciting new start for a highly experienced team made up of seasoned industry professionals with decades of experience under our belts.

We’ve been building games for other blue-chip gaming companies for some time now, and felt we could offer our own innovative products, both games and systems. In the long term we want to grow our portfolio and overall market reach, and together with our partners at Light & Wonder we are well on our way to doing exactly that!

What vision do you have for the future of online slots, and what will the team at Crucible Gaming do to be a part of this future?

There’s going to be a reckoning at some point. The current model of there being hundreds of new games every single month cannot continue indefinitely. There’s simply too much content, too little quality (in our opinion) and that’s where experience matters. We’re already looking beyond slots but I’m not going to share too much now…

How important of a role does good technology play in the success of new online slot, or would you argue that it’s more about the visuals and theming?

Visuals are 10%, theming 5%. The rest is gameplay. We’ve all seen stellar looking games that must have cost a fortune to produce be utterly ruined by poor math. Why would you do that?!

Again – there is no substitute for experience. Technology has its place but fundamentally, gaming is about entertainment and having the player buy into a dream of winning big. Get the fundamentals right and you won’t go wrong.

You recently released Beaver Las Vegas, what makes this game stand out from others on the market right now?

Beaver Las Vegas has a solid combination of top-notch gameplay, great visuals, audio and game feel. It has an accumulating bonus round that really gets players fired up – the chance to upgrade records again and again to make some massive wins. Players can see the value in the bonus and that is certainly being reflected in the game’s performance so far. Plus, who doesn’t love a pun?

What’s next for Crucible Gaming?

Quite simply – a handful of high-quality games each year. Innovation, passion, knowledge – that’s what we have, and what we put into our products. Watch this space!