Triple Edge Studios

About the Company

Triple Edge Studios is an independent casino game developer who became known in late 2017 when it was announced that they had agreed to provide content exclusively to Microgaming. The arrangement began to bear fruit with 3 releases under the Microgaming brand in 2017, but the developer was unknown outside of their business arrangement prior to the Playboy Gold slot title announcement. As the company doesn't offer bespoke games to the common market, their website provides little information on company ownership or background. As we're unable to find UKGC licensing info related to any of their known associated companies we may assume that the exclusivity agreement with Microgaming sees their games licensed by the larger company.

We find the Executive Director to be a Southern Californian who is also Studio Head at Mahi Gaming in San Diego. Mahi Gaming has also released at least one game under the Microgaming brand - Electric Divas. In addition to the two present companies, Michael Gottlieb's CV includes time spent as director and senior director of game development at Bally Technologies before becoming a senior director of game development for Scientific Games Corp shortly after they acquired Bally in 2014.

Gottlieb started Bally's San Diego slot studio for the company in early 2010 and shared his time with the studios in Scottsdale, Arizona under both company names until striking out to lead up Mahi in early 2017 and Triple Edge which he joined in August that year.

Other known associates have or do work in Florida and Reno, Nevada. Paulina Rodgers has many years of experience in game design with careers at Master Inventor at IGT holding more than 60 patents; the former Okada West studios in Truckee, CA; as director of development for Bally Tech in Reno, and since mid and late 2017 as head of game design at MahiGaming and Triple Edge Studios. Some of the most well-known gaming titles she has worked on include Cleopatra, Coyote Moon, and Wolf Run. The list is quite extensive and includes about 100 titles for IGT alone.

Software and Games

The company's first big hit is bound to be 100 pay line Playboy Gold. The six-reel game has 10 positions on each reel. One of the mechanics includes 'jumbo blocks' of playmates that can land on and fill the middle reel and trigger one of three features - a win multiplier, random cash prize, or expand to fill multiple reels and trigger up to four respins with massive prizes.

Microgaming devoted a lot of space and attention to the company and the game at ICE Totally Gaming at the London ExCel event in early 2018, and Triple Edge has received a lot of press about the game which looks to be a winner. The title extends a licensing franchise MGS originated with Playboy prior to the 2013 release of their Playboy Live Dealer studios and the 243 Ways 5 Reel Playboy slot.

Further slots developed by the company and released by Microgaming so far include Halloween, which came out on October 4, 2017. The game features Wandering Reels and Jumbo Blocks, free spins, a Boogeyman Bonus and a Trick or Treat Wheel Bonus. The dynamic mechanics feature 150 pay lines which are determined by the wandering reels. A group of 3 reels that spin together can travel randomly across the reels in the base game. It is a branded game based on the independent slasher film of 1978, starring Jamie Lee Curtis.

Another huge game from their labs is 108 Heroes Multiplier Fortunes, released earlier under the Microgaming name to MGS casinos and Quickfire operators. It's an adrenaline filled 3x3 animated video bonus slot with 9 set pay lines, wilds, multipliers and a respin feature.

The last game we've found from the studios so far is Oink Country Love, again released under the Microgaming brand in August 2017.

The Final Analysis

While we were unaware of the company prior to the announcement of their Playboy Gold slot for Microgaming, we are well aware of the other games they developed for the company. Even before MGS launched their Quickfire platform in 2010, which now carries games over 500 games with more than 300 brands, we long suspected that the company relied on contractors and bespoke labs and studios for most or all of their games. It's nice to finally get even a small peek under the hood of one of them.

The first three titles operated perfectly under the Isle of Man company's skin and have varying degrees of popularity among the tens of thousands of titles available for play online. We expect the Playboy slot released in March 2018 to be pure gold and surpass the previous titles in popularity.

External Links

Microgaming Official Youtube - Celebrating Playboy Gold
Microgaming Press Release - Introducing Triple Edge Studios
2013 - Playboy Live Dealer Studio Release