Meet Tara Townsend from Eurostar Studios, the producer behind the deadmau5 slot

This week we’ve had the unique opportunity to chat with Tara Townsend, CEO & Co-Founder of Eurostar Studios to hear about their deadmau5 slot and what it was like working with the iconic Canadian electronic music artist, Joel Zimmerman, aka deadmau5.

15.12.2020
Tara Townsend, CEO & Founder of Eurostar Studios

Tara Townsend, CEO & Co-Founder of Eurostar Studios

Hello Tara! We’re glad to have you and Eurostar Studios for this week’s game studio interview. Please let our readers in on who you are and what your background in iGaming looks like.

I have been working in games for more than a decade. From growing engaged player communities for hardcore PC-based MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online role playing games), “growth hacking” Facebook, driving viral social hits, and launching blockchain-backed digital apps, I’ve worked in a wide variety of roles across numerous gaming verticals. I’m chuffed to be continuing my growth within the iGaming sector.

What is the history behind your startup and what specific opportunities were you focusing on while starting up?

Eurostar Studios was a dream a long time in the making. My business partner, Jerry Seelig, and I have wanted to start our own gaming company for years. Jerry grew up outside of Atlantic City and has been working in the casino space for over 30 years. He’s made land-based machines, social slots, scratch-off lottery tickets and of course online slots. Finally, the stars aligned and we both committed!

We hope to surprise players with our artfully designed games paired with branded content. With Jerry’s eye for game features and my access to licensed IP, we think we have a winning combination. We discuss and review many potential directions for brands and game concepts – and when we can both see the game spinning in our heads, we know we’re onto something.

You just released your first, yet famous game, the deadmau5 slot. How involved was deadmau5 in the game creation process?

Joel Zimmerman (aka deadmau5) is a big gamer, so he was eager to be involved with this project from its inception. We did our kick-off at Joel’s house and spent hours talking about casino games, festivals, Vegas residencies, and the feelings the game should evoke. We spent time in his recording studio and his design lab, looking at graphics as they played on his Cube’s 3D surface.

His fans travel from across the globe to see him in person and experience a Cube V3 show. Coming out of our meeting, the concept was clear: the game would be based on signature elements of deadmau5 show - immersive sounds, fun visual displays, and an audience losing themselves in the music - as taken literally with the major symbols’ animations.

For the audio, we worked with deadmau5 and his team to curate a soundtrack that would resonate deeply with fans while being enjoyable to all players. By keeping the music focused on two signature tracks; Monophobia and 4Ware, we were able to dive deeply into those songs, creating a wonderful ambience.

We saw the deadmau5 game went out early on exclusive releases for some operators in some regions. What benefit do you think early releases have for titles?

The deadmau5 game is brought to players by Eurostar exclusively to Microgaming for this title, and we couldn’t be happier with their amazing support. They suggested releasing the game early on a few operators to get some early reads on game metrics and tech performance. With so much marketing being coordinated for the worldwide launch, it was helpful knowing that our game was performing well and that we were full speed ahead!

Now, let’s dive into the future! Can you tell us anything about your upcoming releases?

Eurostar’s second game will be another branded product, that while being a thematic departure from deadmau5, will still deliver high-styled entertainment. We are thrilled to work with Microgaming again and can’t wait to spill the tea on this one! Stay tuned for your ticket into a world of lavish extravagance.

Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us Tara, we can’t wait to see your next game!

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