AGS – Riding the Wave

Las Vegas-based AGS has been one of the ongoing success stories in an increasingly competitive slot market. In recent years, when some slot suppliers saw flat results, AGS kept humming along, its slot division continuing to pump out high-earning games.

It’s a main reason the company, which had been listed on the New York Stock Exchange for seven years, attracted the attention of middle-market private equity firm Brightstar Capital, which closed its acquisition of AGS in July. The move to private ownership is not hampering the R&D and sales machine that has taken AGS from a Class II supplier to one of the fastest-growing companies in the Class III slot market.

“We’re excited about the partnership with Brightstar,” says Mark DeDeaux, senior vice president and general manager, slots for AGS. “The opportunity for us to continue to accelerate the expansion of our portfolio and the depth of our library of games under this new partnership is something that they recognize as a big opportunity. And we have a great plan in place to be able to execute on that.”

DeDeaux says the focus this year in game development has been to tap into its known strengths.

“There are some categories where we feel we can really compete and dominate. The private equity ownership means a lot to us in a lot of different ways. On the R&D side, we still have to follow the same discipline that we’ve always followed, whether we were publicly traded or privately owned, but now we just have more flexibility into what we can invest in, and we’re able to be a lot more aggressive in pursuing the things that we know have made us successful to this point.

“I see this as an acceleration of our capabilities. When you talk about game development in particular, I think one of the things we’ve demonstrated clearly is an ability to punch above our weight class. We know we are competing with the top three, and I’m not making a claim that we’re in the top three, but we know we’re competing with the top three with far fewer resources.”

In core and premium video, AGS continues to add titles across the Spectra range of cabinets, brand extensions joining completely new game styles. At the same time, the company has ramped up game production for its new stepper cabinet, Revel.

“We’ve been building and delivering games to further expand that product portfolio,” says DeDeaux of the growing AGS stepper lineup, “using a lot of different game-play mechanics. We have a great team that is delivering on those games. The depth and breadth of the portfolio of games continue to support the mech reel category, and really put us into a leadership position.”

DeDeaux says the company also has an opportunity this year to go after a leadership position with its two large-format cabinets in the Spectra series, the SL75+ and new SL75+ Premium. Both feature a 75-inch UltraHD 4K monitor designed to immerse the player (or players, as there are dual bash buttons) in the experience. The new SL75 Premium will be launched at G2E with several new titles (the games will be available on either version of the SL75+).

“We’ve made all of our games work on the SL75+ cabinet, and we give customers the flexibility of either leasing it or purchasing it,” comments DeDeaux.

It will all be on display at the Global Gaming Expo, where AGS will show more than 80 games—more than half completely new titles, and all available to customers by the first half of 2026.

Video Highlights

At G2E, AGS will showcase several games on its new large-format SL75 Premium cabinet. One of the inaugural themes is Ultra Werewolf Fury & Strike, a successor to the AGS slots Werewolf Fury and Werewolf Strike and the newest entry in a still-growing series. It offers all the features of the original version, with new appearances by the wild Wolf symbol in primary and bonus games.

At its center is a hold-and-spin bonus (branded Hold & Win by AGS) with a unique path to the top Grand jackpot. It is a standard three-spin hold-and-spin cycle, but there are four active reels and a fifth reel that appears locked as cash-on-reels symbols and lower-level jackpot icons fall in place. Filling the four active reels with cash and jackpot symbols unlocks the fifth reel, which spins to award either a multiplier applied to the accumulated credits or the Grand jackpot.

Also featured on the SL75+ Premium will be the Wild Stacks series, with base games Mega Diamond Wild Stacks and Gold Inferno Wild Stacks. Both are three-reel, nine-line video slots in mid to high denominations, and both are based on popular prior three-reel, high-denomination releases.

Both games are styled like classic reel-spinners, complete with the pay table appearing above the reels. Each has three different-colored wild symbols, which multiply the win by two when one lands in a winning combination and which quadruple the pay when two land in a win. The top four jackpots are progressives won by lining up three wild symbols on a payline—mixed, pink, blue and purple, the latter triggering the top $10,000-plus prize.

The two new versions add stacking wild symbols to the mix. Three-high stacks of wild symbols enable up to nine jackpots on a single spin.

The large-format games will be accompanied by a complete lineup of new core video games. DeDeaux says filling out the company’s lineup of core video cabinets has resulted in success across all hardware setups. “In our core family of products on the Spectra video cabinets, we are seeing success across the board, whether it’s our upright 43, our upright 49 or our 49 specialty slant cabinets,” he explains.

“What we’ve really built out on the core video side is a portfolio of hardware that can be a lower-price entry point, or a midpoint with our upright 49. All three of those core cabinets are designed to give a little bit of texture and pricing, but we also have a lot of games to support all of those.”

He adds that select new games will be available on all the cabinets. “As we’ve evolved those three cabinets, seeing great success across all three of them, we want to make sure we have certain titles that customers can flex across all three cabinets,” says DeDeaux.

“We’ll still be designing specific games for certain cabinets, but we’re also now introducing some flex games that we are being very intentional about identifying as high-potential games that can be released across all three cabinets. We’re really excited about these flex titles, because they give operators a lot more flexibility in terms of choosing which price point they want, and having the availability of more games across all cabinets.”

One of the most successful three-reel video titles is Straight Cash, which features numbers as the basic reel symbols in a three-reel, single-line format, the numbers forming the pays in a what-you-see-is-what-you-get setup. The top line jackpot is $10,550 for lining up 10-5-50 on the payline.

However, there are a lot of twists to its latest version, Straight Cash 3-Play, which will be a standout at G2E. First of all, players can wager up to “buy” additional reel sets. In the dollar version, a $5 wager activates the main reel set, while a $10 wager unlocks a second reel set and a $15 wager unlocks all three.

With all three reel sets active, 2X and 3X multipliers appear on the reels. The multipliers work together in wins—combining a 2X and 3X multiplier in a win multiplies all pays by six. Some of the numbers are red, and with all three reel sets active, they duplicate on the other two reel sets to increase wins. Other number reel symbols may display a “Spin” symbol. In this instance, they lock in place, and if there are no winning combinations, the other reels re-spin for a chance to increase the winning pay symbol value.

Five-reel core video also will be highlighted, including the launch of a new game family called Repeat Win Fusion. Inaugural games Fa Cai Trio and Purrfect Trio feature three filler pots, marked “Jackpot,” “Repeat Win” and “Extra Spins.” One, two or all three of the pots trigger an enhanced free-spin round, with eight free spins awarded.

During the free spins, pot symbols appear on the reels and will award the enhancements that have been triggered with the free spins. Assuming all three pots have been triggered, each time a pot lands it will award a random number of coins which are either the corresponding enhancement or a cash-on-reels value that accumulates to the Cash Stash, which is awarded at the end of the feature.

The “Repeat Win” feature has a chance to award the entire Cash Stash instantly, multiple times, or to add in more cash-on-reels awards.

The “Jackpot” feature enables collection on each of the progressives and bonuses, including the Grand Jackpot, which resets at $10,000. Each time the corresponding pot lands during the free spins, it will award more cash-on-reels values to the Cash Stash or a jackpot symbol for one of the progressives or bonuses. Multiple jackpots can be won during this feature.

The “Extra Spins” feature will grant an additional +1 free spin for each coin that reveals once the pot is landed, or a cash-on-reels to add to the Cash Stash.

Stepper Parade

The rapidly growing game library for the Revel stepper cabinet will also be well-represented at G2E. According to DeDeaux, the goal in creating the Revel stepper series was to offer a classic look and feel with modern game mechanics added in.

“One of the things that we were very intentional about was building something that had a very traditional and authentic feel of original stepper products—simple, subtle things that we think players in that category appreciate,” he says. “There’s a handle on the side of it. The bell inside of the cabinet is an actual bell; it’s not an electronic manufactured bell sound.

“We did a lot of things very intentionally to give it a classic look, but with a modernized twist. And we think it’s resonating really well with the players in that category. On the content side, we’re delivering not just classic-style reel games, but also providing some of the more modern play mechanics like cash on reels.”

Up front at G2E will be the stepper version of the Straight Cash brand, Straight Cash Triple Double Spin and Straight Fire Triple Double Spin, in mid and high denominations, featuring the 2X and 3X multipliers, the re-spin feature when numbers are marked “spin,” and an added “nudge” feature in Straight Fire Triple Double Spin that can turn losing spins into winners.

Other new steppers include sister games Royal Reels and Crystal Reels, follow-ups to the original Flaming Reels and Diamond Reels stepper titles. These games include cash-on-reels symbols that pay off when three land along with 2X and 3X multiplying wild symbols.

Increasing Output

There are sure to be more surprises to come at G2E from AGS, which three years ago increased its number of game design studios to seven, with several in the U.S. and others in far-flung global locations including Australia, in addition to opening its first online-only game studio.

“We feel like our design approach has given us the ability to make really good games, but we do want to be able to give the studios more time to build out the depth of the game that they’re working on,” says DeDeaux. “We’re putting more time and energy into better defining what things we want to implement within our game design approach, so we have a better chance of ensuring that when the game starts, it has a better chance of success overall.”

That success now includes omnichannel releases—games launched simultaneously in brick-and-mortar and online casinos. This has increased as the AGS interactive division, the newest of its three along with slots and table products, has developed under Zoe Ebling, the company’s vice president-interactive.

The interactive division recently was folded into the overall slot division, with Ebling now working directly with DeDeaux on the multi-channel game strategy. “If you think about our industry, land-based gaming and interactive gaming are coexisting in certain markets,” DeDeaux says. “We believe that is going to continue to expand as new jurisdictions start to approve online gaming.

“We do appreciate that there are significant differences between interactive and land, but at the same time, we’re largely selling to a lot of the same customers for land and interactive. So, we made a very intentional decision to get more strategic by rolling it up into one leadership group so that we can continue to better understand those differences, those similarities, and how we optimize for the future convergence between land and interactive.”