Exclusive Interview With Wazdan's Chief Commercial Officer Andrzej Hyla

Genius Gambling has had a long partnership with Wazdan and we are proud to be one of their esteemed media partners. We have helped them launch many of their innovative titles into the UK and the wider global market through our streamer creator programme along with creating huge collaborative giveaways that our readership loved. Today it's our pleasure to pick the brains of Wazdan's Chief Commercial Officer Andrzej Hyla about their pioneering mechanics, the momentous start they have had in 2022 and what we can expect from Wazdan throughout the rest of the year.

Hi Andrzej, thank you for joining us today for those not currently aware of Wazdan or your library of hit games could you tell us a little about both yourself and the studio in general?

I’m Andrzej Hyla, Chief Commercial Officer at Wazdan, and I’ve been in the iGaming industry for over 12 years now. The focus of my role is to drive key commercial growth in major regulated markets across the globe as we look to continue our impressive momentum from 2021.

Our portfolio provides great variety and now boasts over 140 games, including a growing number of slots that utilise our popular Hold the Jackpot feature. We take immense pride in the ever-increasing number of players that choose to play our games.

Wazdan has been creating games and platforms since 2010, could you tell us how this journey started for you?

Wadan has been providing innovation, passion for games, and reliability to players all over the world for over a decade, which is a big factor as to why I have stayed at Wazdan for so long. It has been an exciting journey so far, and now that we hold licences and certifications in 17 regulated markets, we have started to receive recognition as a leading global supplier.

Our team consists of enthusiastic people who share a common vision, know-how, and passion for developing strong products. We boast impressive knowledge and experience, and express a desire to challenge the offering of the industry’s leaders, which has been a very rewarding process so far.

Your new game Sizzling Moon™ was released on the 25th of January. Could you tell us more about this release?

Sizzling Moon™ belongs to our popular Hold the Jackpot series, and this time players are taken on an intergalactic journey, filled with astronomical wins.

This 16-reel, intergalactic slot combines stunning visuals and easy-to-understand gameplay. It features Sticky Bonus symbols to increase players’ chances of triggering the Hold the Jackpot bonus round, with the symbols sticking to the reels for up to 9 re-spins.

Not only do our titles offer players the thrill of landing winning combos in the base game, but players can also trigger huge jackpots in the thrilling Hold the Jackpot bonus round, with our recent release Sizzling Moon™ offering the massive Moon Jackpot worth up to 2,500x the player’s bet. What a hot slot!

What is next on your agenda?

Our upcoming slot Dwarfs Fortune™ sees us introduce new bonus symbols, like Increasing Value Cash symbols and Collector symbols, which can be used together to enhance players’ winning potential to infinity.

The slot title is set to go live on the 9th of March and takes players on a journey in search of untold riches, buried deep underground in a mine coated in precious gemstones. It provides impressive win potential with the abundance of Bonus symbols and Jackpots on offer and combines easy-to-understand mechanics with a collection of innovative new features to create a well-balanced playing experience.

The game is proven to boost player engagement with the introduction of innovative Increasing Value Sticky Cash symbols that not only stick to the reels for up to 9 re-spins, but also increase their value with every spin. This means players can enter the Hold the Jackpot bonus round with big prizes and increase them to infinity, by collecting more Bonus symbols, including new Increasing Value Cash symbols and Collector symbols.

This game is packed with new features and the Grand Jackpot worth 2,500x player’s bet, and we can’t wait to see players discover valuable dwarven treasures hidden deep in the underground mines.

You're well known for releasing games with changeable Volatility Levels™ along with other unique Wazdan features. How does this work and are there any challenges you face in order to bring this sense of agency to players?

Our proprietary Volatility Levels™ feature allows our players to adjust their win size and frequency as they please. The High volatility setting brings players more sizeable wins, but they occur less often, and on the other hand, the Low volatility setting provides players with more frequent, smaller wins. Players looking for a more balanced experience can select the Standard mode, where both win size and frequency are more level. This amazing feature can only be found in our games.

What has been one of the biggest wins on one of your games?

There are players that win big every day while playing our games, and one of the main reasons why they seek out our Hold the Jackpot titles is because of the chance to win hefty cash prizes in addition to the regular game payouts. One of our most popular titles, Sizzling Bells™, offers wins up to 15,000x player’s bet!

The streamers here at Genius Gambling landed some impressive wins when you tested out our popular title, Power of Gods™: Hades, including the triggering of the Grand Jackpot live to your audiences!

Wazdan seems to have found a niche in recent months for the Hold The Jackpot feature. Could you tell us more about this feature and how you keep innovating it?

Our renowned Hold the Jackpot collection continues to impress players across the globe, going from strength to strength as more titles are being added. The Hold the Jackpot bonus round has been designed around a well-thought-out maths model, which allows us to enhance and refine the mechanic for each new Hold the Jackpot title.

Each new game offers a different number of reels, unique reel layouts, new Bonus symbols, different jackpot values, or additional prizes.

One of the early titles in the collection, Burning Stars 3™ offers a retro vibes and simple rules with 4 Jackpots up for grabs, while Midnight in Tokyo, gained considerable popularity with its sleek feline-inspired theme and cumulative prizes up to 3000x player’s bet.

Compare these features to the unique reel layout, Super Grand Jackpot of 15,000x the bet that Sizzling Bells™ bonus round employs and you’ll start to understand the key differences that exist between games in the collection. Each Hold the Jackpot slot provides an immersive experience that differs slightly from the last, and this has been the key to the series’ success.

The Power of Gods™ series has also gone down a treat with our customers, employing a different mythical theme in each new release and allowing us to stray from the norm in terms of theme direction. Power of Gods™: Medusa invites players to enter the lair of the seductive and dangerous Gorgon in search of legendary Jackpots, and is the latest release to feature in both the Power of Gods™ and Hold the Jackpot series.

With it still being the start of 2022, it feels only fitting to ask what 2022 has in store for you and what we should be expecting from the studio this year?

We’ve got so much coming up, it is a very exciting time for us!

We kicked off the new year with the launch of Sizzling Moon™, which provides an intergalactic journey that combines cosmic creations with the hugely popular Hold the Jackpot bonus round, and it has received a very positive reception by our players.

Our upcoming release Dwarfs Fortune™ is packed with cool features that will bring some real excitement to players, taking them on an underground adventure through a mine filled with precious gems where they can trigger the Hold the Jackpot bonus round, which can reward them with multipliers as high as 2,500x their bet! With excellent design, a captivating soundtrack, smooth gameplay, and innovative, yet easy-to-understand features, this new game is going to be a real staple of our offering.

That aside, we’ve got several key commercial deals lined up in what we hope will be another year filled with success. We’re also planning to enter new regulated markets, including US states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Could you provide some detail to our readers as to how a slot game begins design wise, through production to the finished game we end up playing when made by Wazdan?

As a brand with over a decade’s worth of experience developing and delivering engaging products, we understand that players don’t just want a title that offers them huge win potential, but also engages them with modern aesthetics, sound effects, animations, and features that set the product apart from those of competitors.

We conduct extensive market research to understand player preferences and use this to brainstorm ideas, delving into the specifics of various topics when working on new themes. We never fail to test our hypotheses and make sure that the game is entertaining, easy to understand, and can meet specific player requirements.

Just take a look at our Hold the Jackpot collection. Each game in the series features a unique take on the mechanic to ensure our players get a different experience every time and can return to the ones they enjoyed. The research we do, and the way that we implement our findings directly into our game development process, is exactly why our titles continue to be enjoyed by players all over the world!

We extend a huge thank you to Andrzej Hyla and the entire team at Wazdan for giving us an insight into their practices and allowing us to gain an overview of what makes them a true juggernaut of the iGaming industry! With the exciting Dwarfs Fortune™ releasing on the 09/03/2022 there is no better time to get to grips with their unique and changeable volatility levels, innovative mechanics and excellent game design next time you are having a spin. If you want to know more about Wazdan you can visit their website or follow their journey on Twitter and YouTube.