Global Games 2026
Our annual review of the best from the world’s slot suppliers at the Global Gaming Expo.
Every fall, the slot manufacturers of the world come together in Las Vegas to display their new product year at the Global Gaming Expo. Every year, we travel to the suppliers’ headquarters for a sneak peek at the games they will unveil at the show. This, the 25th edition of our Global Games feature, is the result.
Much of what you will find on the following pages is exclusive information, as the major suppliers often show the games to us before they’ve been shown to customers or the industry at large.
Global Games provides a snapshot of industry trends, and if one trend sticks out this year, it is the creativity of each supplier in creating its own version of the popular pot-collection and hold-and-spin features. These features are practically required in new games from every manufacturer, because the players can’t get enough of them.
There are unique new features cropping up that the suppliers have used to distinguish their own versions of these popular game mechanics from their competitors. The hold-and-spin feature was pioneered by Aristocrat with the Lightning Link and Dragon Link game families, but each supplier seeks to put its own stamp on it, adding multipliers, expanded reels, and nested secondary hold-and-spin features.
This is also yet another year of hardware innovations, with game developers exploiting the capabilities of ever more computing power, graphic elements, and unique merchandising configurations in new form factors. The latest rage is creating an LED canvas behind a cabinet that duplicates the features of the game, creating a special cinematic game area.
The slot suppliers are all adding studios, engineering talent and new technologies in an R&D arms race to produce high-earning games. G2E is where the race is won.
Games for newer verticals also will be part of many supplier displays, as slot-makers branch out to historical horse racing, VLTs, VGTs, Class II games and, notably, online gaming.
As we pointed out last year, G2E is the World Series, Super Bowl and Stanley Cup Playoffs for the slot manufactures of the world. So, here, in alphabetical order by manufacturer, is the “new model year” in the slot sector.
Have a great show!
