PearFiction Studios interview with SlotsUp

Article by : Olufifun Adeleke Jun 30, 2022

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Updated: Dec 27, 2023

Welcome to the first interview on SlotsUp. We are grateful to Jeremy Coleman from PearFiction Studios for this opportunity.

PearFiction has significant naming and branding. Few words on it, please 🙂

PearFiction is a small but growing slots studio based in Montreal, Canada. The name PearFiction came from Thierry Semoff, our founder and CEO, and it is a play on the word ‘Perfection.’

Perfectionism is one of his traits and part of the inspiration for the studio name. All of our colleagues at PearFiction are ‘PearFictionists’ in their own way. The other reason is a bit more mundane; we were looking for a .com domain name that was still available. PearFiction was easy to search and would not compete for ranking with something else.

Your games are eye-catching. Seems like designers are doing good 🙂 Tell us more about your team? About your careers?

We are fortunate to have some very talented designers at PearFiction. The guys work very hard on creating exciting-looking games. At PearFiction, we try to give each game a personality, a story that it can tell, and a mark that bears the PearFiction seal. We are always looking for ways to mix the game mechanics and features with the story of our games. Can we tweak the story to match the game mechanics? Can we tweak the mechanics to fit the story? Those types of questions guide us during our game development process. Our goal is to create a unique gameplay experience for players by combining stories, humor, a high level of survivability, and depth of features, with fantastic characters and artwork. Our games are fast becoming known for having bright, vivid colors, unique creative design, and high production values.

As you can see, our games are very character-based, and we are finding that the players love those characters like Piggy from Squealin’ Riches, the mammoth from Blazing Mammoth, and the dragon from Dungeons & Diamonds. The volcano from Treasures of Kilauea, our next game, is already a popular addition to our cast of characters.

The team comes from various backgrounds, having worked in online gaming, video gaming, and other online creative roles. We also have a growing group of excellent game producers who work closely with the creative teams on game design and direction. Those guys have worked for big online gaming companies like Scientific Gaming and William Hill, bringing a great mix of supplier and operator experience.

Overall, our team has a good blend of online gaming experience, video game experience, and general online content creation experience. Fitting into the PearFiction team is just as important as your CV.

Have you worked with VGW and Casumo? Are you planning to work with other companies? Tell us more, please.

We have previously worked with Casumo on a couple of exclusive game titles a few years back, and we have provided some of our existing games to VGW for use in their social casinos. Currently, we have an exclusive distribution deal with Games Global that allows a small studio like PearFiction to have instant distribution to over 200 top gaming operators. We began in the industry as an independent studio. Creating our own IP and licensed games were our top priority. As developers, we learned that creating great games is just half the equation. The other half is to get a good distribution that can deliver decent revenues. As a result of our exclusive agreement with Games Global, our games are now available through the Quickfire platform licensed operators worldwide. It’s the best decision we took for our studio. This allows me as Commercial Director to work with the great team at Games Global and directly with all of their operators to ensure a broad global distribution for all our games.

How was your ICE Totally Gaming 2022?

ICE 2022 was beneficial and productive for PearFiction. Because we decided not to exhibit this year, I was the only team member who attended ICE 2022. However, I met with most of my big customers and developed quite a few new relationships that have quickly led to new revenues, so I was thrilled.

Walking around the show halls, it felt a bit flat with all the big land-based and online game suppliers choosing not to exhibit this year. I missed the sights and sounds of the new land-based machines and great online games everywhere. I felt for Clarion because it was a tricky time to hold the event after the Covid spike of December/January, and many people chose not to attend. They certainly made the most of the event, so they have full credit. I’m sure it will be back to normal next year and will be another great event.

Are you satisfied with switching from apps to casino games as a business-related decision?

Yes, very much so. It is a decision that has enabled PearFiction to grow from about 12 staff to having over 30 today. That growth is all due to the company moving to create online slot games. The team that worked on some of those early apps is still mainly with PearFiction and has seen the company change and grow. Developing real money slot games is an exciting challenge that we enjoy. It was a natural evolution for PearFiction to move into this world. We have a pipeline of fascinating games and features we are developing, which we hope will bring our games to as many operators and players as possible. As I said, working with Games Global and their distribution provide us with the best reach possible for our games.

What is the next release you are working on? Could you tell us more?

I am very excited about our upcoming game, called Treasures of Kilauea (Pronounced ‘Kill-a-way”), which will have a global launch date of August 9th. This game is set on a tropical island and centers around the interactive Kilauea volcano, which snores, gurgles, and talks. The language is Samoan, and I really enjoy the big win celebrations. We showcased this game at the recent Games Global customer event in Portugal, where it received very favorable feedback from the operators. The game has a fascinating retention mechanic built into the base game, which will engage players and keep them spinning as the Lava Spin hits every 10 spins and the Eruption Spin hits every 50 spins giving players great wins in the base game. There is also a jackpot wheel with up to 5000x bet available to be won. We also offer all players a choice on the number of free spins and random wilds when they get into the bonus round. The players will love the game with up to 45 free spins available.

Is there anything you would like to add and share with our readers?

As a relatively new studio, we appreciate all the support from the media, game reviewers, affiliates, streamers, operators, and the players. We have created some fantastic games in the past 18 months, but the best is yet to come from PearFiction. You will see many great games coming from us that will continue to grow on what we have found to be successful. Every game is a learning exercise, and we use each round to create better games for our players.