Roundtable Discussion for SBC Leaders Magazine

Within the gaming sector, where do you see the most innovation? Alternatively, which areas do you believe are behind the curve when it comes to innovative technologies, and why might this be the case?

Innovation is coming in all shapes and sizes across the sector. Over the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of movement in the live casino sector, with game show-style content becoming more creative and pushing its appeal to more non-traditional live dealer players. Slots have continued to push on with more iterations of traditional mechanics as well as new and imaginative plays on ways games. 

Innovation has to serve a purpose and improve the player experience. Innovation for innovation’s sake is often counterproductive, and it’s important to understand what the players want and what they are doing. For that reason, I believe some of the moves we’ve seen towards VR and AR solutions haven’t always delivered as they force the player to give all their attention to the games they’re playing. This removes their ability to multitask whilst playing, perhaps watching TV or other leisure activities that they combine with gaming.

I think gamifying the player experience is something the industry is behind on. There have been attempts from operators, studios and dedicated third parties to improve this but adoption hasn’t been great. There is still a lot of scope to improve here and we can expect to see some interesting innovations in the near future.

Humans are creatures of comfort. Do you believe that the igaming sector is currently stuck in a rut when it comes to innovation or are we on the cusp of the ‘next generation’ technologies?

There is a bit of both. I believe most businesses in our industry want to be leading change and innovation but the path to what is the next great innovation isn’t that clear. We are getting better at understanding what end users want to see and think the learnings from this will help drive the next step. Compliance, regulation and the general “social acceptance” of gambling do ensure that it is a relatively small window for innovation, but if approached properly huge opportunities exist.  

Megaways was deemed the pinnacle of slot innovation following its release, with various companies still embracing the mechanic. Why do you think it has remained so successful? And why do you think this is still the mechanic of choice for many suppliers?

Megaways’ no-rigid paylines and high win potential really engage players, with the chance to win huge amounts off a single spin as more symbols land on the reels. It has been added to with mechanics such as cascading wins, prolonging spins. As long as it remains a fan-favourite, I see no reason anyone should stop. 

Following on from that, why do many suppliers choose not to innovate in-house and instead opt for external mechanics?

A lot of studios have seen the opportunity here to gain a quick win by taking their best performing or lapsed IP and themes and converting it to Megaways. We have also seen attempts to build on this from Big Time Gaming and others with Megaclusters, Mega Quads and X-Ways for example.

Before Megaways we were still in a world of primarily 5×3, 5×4 and 243 ways games which had been the case for years, so I think it may still be some time before we see the “next big thing”. Creating a new game mechanic is one thing, it being successful and catching on is another.

At Wizard Games we recently launched Teddy’s Tavern, featuring our new Digi-Drop mechanic, a single reel game with no symbols, just multipliers. The game has performed well since release, and we have a number of improvements in the pipeline to roll out in future titles. Whether this will be as successful as Megaways remains to be seen but I think it indicates a continued desire to innovate.

In the past, suppliers have produced ‘new’ titles simply by reskinning an existing game / adding a new mechanic to an existing product. What are the advantages of developing titles this way and could it be considered ‘lazy’?

The advantages are clear, from leveraging a winning formula to simply lowering production costs. If you have a theme or mechanic that performs well, it’s natural to want to try to extend and emulate the success in future games.

There are definitely lazy reskins in the market, however a lot of providers do try to tweak and add extra features to the original games to give players a new experience. It’s all about providing value to players and operators and if the game does that, how it’s achieved is less of an issue. We’re not the first industry to want to continue to build and promote a winning formula and I doubt we will be the last.

Have we reached the current ceiling for innovation within gamification offered by current technology? If so, how else could the gaming sector innovate to keep its product appeal?

No, I don’t believe so. Technology is often a blocker with this. Multiple integrations and platforms across the industry mean it is difficult to create truly agnostic tools that work for all content. In addition, often an operator’s development time is taken up by adhering to new regulatory standards or promoting new content, so it can be hard for them to prioritise.

At Wizard Games, we have the benefit of the Pariplay tournament tool, which is constantly being developed to add new features and functionality such as our Raffle Rocket, Lucky Wheel and others. This gives operators the ability to run campaigns across not just Wizard Games, but any content served through Pariplay’s Fusion platform. Adoption is increasing so we can see there is definitely appetite for it and we plan to continue developing new and exciting features.

How can you see different verticals within the gaming sector innovating within the near future? 

As more markets regulate and requirements come into place, I think we will see a more concerted push to maximise the player journey and deliver the highest value proposition to end users. Gaming operators and providers are taking inspiration from other parts of the entertainment sector to personalise and create more relevance to players, both in the content offered and the way this is sold to them. We are also seeing more moves to socialise the player experience, adding multiplayer features and pulling towards a softer form of gambling. That being said, I think there will always be space for the traditional verticals. Ultimately the pool of players coming to gaming is widening and this, in turn, creates broader demographics, with different expectations, likes and dislikes. Gaming will need to adapt to widen its appeal and learn to address a much more diverse and demanding market.