The hotly-contested game to watch competition sees companies compete for the game judged most interesting and likely to succeed. Given the innovation for which ICE is famous, it is no wonder that this prize is so sought-after by companies who pride themselves on their game design.
Last year, industry-newcomer Gamevy scooped the PitchICE Best Start Up award. A year further on they have won the Game to Watch competition, beating off stiff competition from some hot new contenders, including Skillz Gaming.
“Last year was incredible for us. We said we wanted to do even better this year,” said Helen Walton, Gamevy’s Marketing Director. “And we have! Not only did our cheeky guerrilla promotion boys in heels become one of the most talked-about campaigns at ICE, but we have also started significant conversations with leading operators and aggregators. To win this competition for our hero gameshow is the perfect recognition of all our work.”
The Game to Watch
The Heist is an online gameshow in which players must take 10 steps to reach the vault. They must avoid alarms and answer quiz questions correctly to reach the money. Once in the vault, players enter the jackpot of jail round. Will they cash out and take their winnings? Or will they risk it all to steal more? The game offers a £1 million jackpot – fully insurable – and has a variable RTP dependent on the player’s skill and on when a player decides to cash out.
“Jeopardy has long been understood in gameshows,” comments Paul Dolman-Darrall, the Chairman of Gamevy who presented the game. “But for gambling it’s fairly new. Cash out has been a huge innovation in sportsbooks and it’s good to see that the judges recognise how it can change our ideas of what works in games as well.”
The judges and audience commended the stylish animations and graphics of The Heist as well as it stripped back UX which allowed users to play quickly and enjoy the combination of gameshow quiz and jeopardy.
A Revolution in Gaming
There was a distinct theme amongst the games submitted this year which echoed, as Chairman Paul Dolman-Darrall said ‘the skills gaming revolution which is coming to gambling.” Paying tribute to the exceptional games The Heist was competing against, Dolman-Darrall stressed: “the concept of skills gaming is about a blue water market – we are not cannibalising the existing gaming genres, we are acquiring new customers who don’t think of themselves of gamblers by offering a type of game that offers greater engagement. That means there is not really only one winner – because we all share that vision.”
Come and play Gamevy’s innovative gameshows and interactive scratch at N2-320. For more information, contact Helen Walton on 07906 236870 or [email protected]
