20+ years in the gambling industry including 13+ years playing and reviewing slots.
OLBG’s Chris Taylor spoke to Print Studios’ CEO Carl Wiggman for a general Questions and Answers interview. Since they were founded in 2020, Print Studios has established themselves as a provider of top-quality slot games which are extremely popular at UK slot sites and beyond.
The Q&A covers how their year has gone, how new slot games are created, their most popular slots, mobile usage, regulation in the UK, sequels, Dream Drop jackpots, the newly-released Dreadworks slot and the future.
Q: How has 2024 gone for Print Studios so far?
CW: “It has gone well. Our plan was to create a studio of this size, making fewer games that see longer long-tail performance, and we've managed exactly that.
There's been room for improvement in how our games are launched though, we saw a few titles leak out for review before they were finished which is a bit of a shame.
Since we do all aspects of game production in-house and have a very stable team, it takes a bit of time to get back on track but we'll get there.”
Q: How are new slot games created? What’s the process?
CW: “Will be quite long-winded to go through in detail but a lot of ideas come from our conferences (we are remote but meet up twice a year) and just trying a lot of stuff with prototype tools.
Then we just bite into it together, leaving full ownership with the hands that create the puzzle pieces that make up a game.
The basics of those pieces are Illustrations, Animations, Math, Sound & Music, Development and then the producer tying it all together.”
Q: What are Print Studios’ most popular slot games? Are there any that are particularly popular only in the UK?
CW: “We have a few that are vying for the top spot, but Pine of Plinko 2, Royal Potato and Royal Potato 2 do well of course. Currently, it's Dreadworks kicking some spooky butt but still early days there.
In the UK, Holy Hand Grenade has been especially popular, along with Huntress: Wild Vengeance and Out of the Ice.”
Q: What % of players play on mobile vs desktop?
CW: “Varies a lot from site to site, but say 70% mobile roughly overall.”
Q: What challenges does Print Studios face with regards to regulation in the UK?
CW: “It's always a moving target so hard to say where it'll end up. From a player's perspective, I think the bet limits might push away people with deep pockets to the black market while still not making a difference for people with low income.
It doesn't matter if the bet limits are 10p, £1 or £10 - you could still lose the few hundred quid you need to make ends meet with a low income (in which case you shouldn't gamble).
Some people however can spend thousands and it's no big deal; the thrills were worth it, and it would make sense that those people are incentivised to play regulated.”
Q: Can we expect sequels to some of your existing slots?
CW: “Yeah for sure, we're seeing plenty of interest for many of our games. Holy Hand Grenade and Cash Defense have come up a bit, but we only go ahead if the ideas come to us so that we can live up to the hype.”
Q: Is there a plan to release more Dream Drop jackpot slots?
CW: “Currently not one in the pipeline but that's probably also a case of the right idea and right timing and we're on.”
Q: Can you tell us a little about the recently released Dreadworks slot game?
CW: “Dreadworks is a game we spent a lot of time on the atmosphere of. Immersion and story were key, trying to deliver a full-blown horror experience while gambling. Not very gory, but highly suspenseful and creepy as hell.
The mechanics are a spiritual successor to our last Halloween game, Darkness, where the bonus revolves around completing a five-step challenge to summon an incredibly scary yet lucrative finale.”
Love scary slot games?
Q: What can we expect from Print Studios for the rest of the year and beyond?
CW: “As boring as it sounds - more of the same! Except it won't be the same, it will be brand new game mechanics in productions that look and feel better than you've ever seen before.”
Q: Do you have a particular favourite slot from Print Studios? If so, why?
CW: “It would have to be the Out of the Ice slot or whatever is new. I'm actually not a big bonus buyer with my own cash and I know the stats on that one makes it our ‘easiest’ max win (he he).”
Q: What other slot games from other providers do you like/play?
CW: “Usually prefer new and unknown just because I've grinded so much of the big providers on demo before it comes out live. So it's really a crapshoot based on feeling but smaller studios like Booming Games, Rogue and 4ThePlayer usually get some action.”
