Monthly Column

Movers and Shakers: Peter & Sons: we’re not afraid to stand out from the crowd

Published

4 months ago

August 13, 2024

movers-and-shakers:-peter-&-sons:-we’re-not-afraid-to-stand-out-from-the-crowd

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“Movers and Shakers” is a dynamic monthly column dedicated to exploring the latest trends, developments, and influential voices in the iGaming industry. Powered by GameOn and supported by HIPTHER, this op-ed series delves into the key players, emerging technologies, and regulatory changes shaping the future of online gaming. Each month, industry experts offer their insights and perspectives, providing readers with in-depth analysis and thought-provoking commentary on what’s driving the iGaming world forward. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the scene, “Movers and Shakers” is your go-to source for staying ahead in the rapidly evolving iGaming landscape.

Writing for European Gaming, Yann Bautista, Commercial Director and Founder at Peter & Sons discusses the challenges of creating something truly unique for the iGaming industry.

Developing something ‘different’ for bettors is much easier said than done. Do you go down the game design route? Add new mechanics? How about completely reinventing the overall gameplay experience with the incorporation of new technologies?

Within the iGaming space, we’ve seen game developers and platform providers scramble to find new ways to differentiate themselves from the crowd. And I can see why.

Prague Gaming & TECH Summit 2025 (25-26 March)

The space has become much more saturated over the last few years, not to mention players demanding much more from their gaming experiences – those points of differentiation can mean the difference between engaging players or fading into the background.

At Peter & Sons, doing things ‘different’ has been our mantra since our inception back in 2019. Our founding team knew that the iGaming sector presented a lucrative opportunity, so in order to be successful, you really had to make a splash.

But let’s be clear, we weren’t looking to reinvent the wheel. From our collective experiences, we knew what worked and, more importantly, what did not. So instead, we wanted to keep the wheel as it was – but add our own fresh spin.

To achieve this, we chose to focus on the development of innovative products and combining that with our distinctive branding. We wanted to make sure that any player who was enjoying our games knew that this was a Peter & Sons product.

Innovation: simply a buzzword?

Now, we know what you’re probably thinking. Doesn’t everyone set out on a mission to innovate? And you’re not wrong. Innovation has become somewhat of a buzzword in our industry over the last few years.

Reskinning an existing game with a slightly tweaked design does not an innovator make.

True innovation, in our view, lies in reimagining existing concepts in ways that feel fresh and exciting, while also introducing entirely new elements that redefine the player experience.

For me, I guess you could say that the iGaming industry can be considered to be an innovative industry. We are seeing new products and technologies emerge which are paving the way for our industry to grow and evolve. However, what we have also seen is a handful of gaming companies recycle more established concepts and mechanics – something that can ultimately have a detrimental effect on player engagement.

Peter & Sons isn’t, and never will be, one of those gaming companies that relies on rehashing existing concepts. As a company, we strive to push the boundaries of game design by incorporating new technologies, creative mechanics and unique artistry to ensure that every single game we develop stands out both visually and experientially.

Our focus on differentiation means that we are able to deliver much higher quality, more immersive gaming experiences that not only captivate players, but help our operator partners to drive long-term engagement too.

It’s all about branding

As a company, we didn’t want our mantra of differentiation to be limited to the development of mechanics. In fact, it is also a value that has shaped our overall branding strategy – both in terms of game design, and how we portray our organisation to new and existing partners. Looking at game design, we ultimately wanted our branding strategy to complement our product innovation team.

To do this, our team follows three core principles: creative, fun and relevant to our audience. There is very little use in designing a game around a theme that has already proven to be unsuccessful with players; instead, look at either developing an entirely new design concept, or adding a new twist to a player favourite.

The synergy of unique game themes, stunning graphics, and top-tier audio design, alongside a brand that highlights creativity and player-centric values, truly sets us apart. This comprehensive approach ensures our games are not only played but also remembered and recommended by players.

Those three core principles have also shaped our brand identity. In fact, we underwent a brand refresh last year, as we wanted to align our visual identity and messaging with the innovative spirit of our game portfolio. For us, it shouldn’t just be our games portfolio that’s fun, creative and relevant. Our overall brand should be too.

Our brand refresh became much more important as we continued to expand our global reach and introduce new titles.

We wanted to be able to roll out new games across new markets, and for players and operators to be instantly familiar with Peter & Sons, and what we stand for. So, we chose to update our logo, website and market materials to better reflect the essence of who we are as a brand.

What lies ahead?

As we enter the next phase of our growth as a company, we will continue to remain firmly focused on changing the game for slot development and bringing new, exciting titles to players right across the industry.

By staying true to our core values of innovation and player-centric design, we aim to set new industry benchmarks and deliver unparalleled gaming experiences. We already have big plans in place to broaden our portfolio, with a pipeline of exciting slots as well as a range of instant and scratch games.

We’ll continue entering new regulated markets and strengthening our presence in existing ones. And rest assured, we will continue to maintain the highest possible standards of quality and creativity.

While I can’t give away much about our plans for the next 12 months, what I can tell you is that we plan to keep building on some of our most successful games, like Barbarossa. Following its success, we are releasing Barbarossa Revenge on the 1 October, which we believe will be a hit, captivating our loyal players and attracting new ones. So, keep your eye out for some new exciting products!

The post Movers and Shakers: Peter & Sons: we’re not afraid to stand out from the crowd appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Movers and Shakers: Tereza Melicharkova: There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for creating sustained engagement

Monthly Column

Movers and Shakers: Why Customer Service is the Unsung Hero in Player Retention: An Insider’s Perspective on Maximizing Lifetime Value in a Competitive Market

Published

3 weeks ago

November 11, 2024

George Miller

movers-and-shakers:-why-customer-service-is-the-unsung-hero-in-player-retention:-an-insider’s-perspective-on-maximizing-lifetime-value-in-a-competitive-market

Reading Time: 5 minutes

“Movers and Shakers” is a dynamic monthly column dedicated to exploring the latest trends, developments, and influential voices in the iGaming industry. Powered by GameOn and supported by HIPTHER, this op-ed series delves into the key players, emerging technologies, and regulatory changes shaping the future of online gaming. Each month, industry experts offer their insights and perspectives, providing readers with in-depth analysis and thought-provoking commentary on what’s driving the iGaming world forward. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the scene, “Movers and Shakers” is your go-to source for staying ahead in the rapidly evolving iGaming landscape.

Do a lot of operators overlook customer service and its critical role in player acquisition and retention?

Absolutely. Many operators don’t fully recognise just how crucial customer service is, particularly for retention purposes. While acquiring players puts less pressure on customer service, retaining them is a separate challenge. As CPAs rise with operators competing intensely for new customers, ensuring those customers are retained for as long as possible becomes the main objective. Here, customer service is essential in maximising player lifetime value (LTV) and driving continuous engagement.

Unfortunately, there’s often a race to the bottom with customer service, where cost-cutting leads to reduced quality. When customers reach out to support, it’s usually due to a problem. If they’re met with impersonal, unhelpful service, their dissatisfaction can be amplified, which can harm brand loyalty. This is especially significant today when digital engagement is so prevalent – those moments of human interaction carry enormous weight.

As for in-house versus outsourced customer service, it’s a long-standing debate. While building in-house teams offers control, it also brings high overhead. For those who choose to outsource, the key is partnering with a provider that aligns with their brand’s values, tone, and processes. When done well, customer service can strengthen player trust, a critical factor as operators aim to retain players and outbalance acquisition costs with high LTVs.

Why is customer service so important, and what opportunities does it bring when done right?

Customer service is a powerful trust-builder between brand and player. In an ever increasingly digital-first industry where human interaction is rare, these personal connections reinforce trust, ensuring a feeling of safety and value amongst players. Any opportunity an operator gets to maintain a level of personability needs to be maximised.

I would almost flip this question and say ‘what are the pitfalls when done wrong/poorly’. Customer Service is there to ensure that if things go wrong; bonus rounds aren’t paid out, welcome offers aren’t received, withdrawals aren’t functioning optimally, the customer is made to feel safe and reassured, in an efficient, positive manner. Customer Service is the first and last line of defence for the operator in making sure that the ultimate pitfall, a player churning due to negative experience, is never realised.

What challenges do operators face in setting up a customer service team, especially for international operators?

Setting up and managing a customer service team can be an enormous undertaking, especially for international operators. It requires dedicated resources, which often means sacrificing focus on core business strategy. Recruiting, hiring, and training customer service staff demand significant time and money, and for senior roles, costs can rise even further.

Of course, for operators who have a more global reach and team base, this can present additional challenges. There are many regions where there is an abundance of talent for operators to build teams in, of course, however the location of these teams is a critical aspect of this. Setting up in a sub-optimal location for one’s operation, could spell long-term trouble from a management and cultural perspective, particularly if services being offered are on a 24/7 basis.

Operators will want to have their operational teams aligned with their live jurisdictions as much as possible, particularly from a time zone perspective to ensure that synergy between teams and operation doesn’t become strained and also so that team members aren’t consistently having to work unfavourable hours in order to align with peak times of the day. For example, operators in North America/Latam who set-up a CS team in Asia, could find alignment between teams difficult, not least likely incurring additional costs for a large portion of the workforce having to work through the night to meet peak times in live markets, not only from a financial perspective but also culturally, keeping that team motivated and ingrained in the operation could become very difficult.

How can these challenges be overcome, and how can RokkerX help?

RokkerX takes the operational burden away from our clients, allowing them to devote more time to optimising their strategy and driving the business forward. Having provided dynamic research, and strategic and operational consultancy to over 50 operator and B2B suppliers over the past 9 years, we offer our clients an experienced partner to enable them to take greater control of their operation, without the overhead.

With an implicit understanding of end-to-end iGaming operations, we transitioned seamlessly into the Managed Services space at the start of 2023, offering a large suite of services to our clients. We thought having provided the industry with strategic and operational consultancy, it was a natural next step to actually run areas of a client’s operation for them.

We have already launched hubs in the UK, Spain and Bulgaria, soon to be launching in Columbo (Sri Lanka) and Sao Paulo in Brazil with 2 further clients, and have a proven track record as a partner with a heavy focus on scaling while retaining that same team culture we have always prided ourselves on. We continue to scale the team significantly in Bulgaria, which is our main hub, having recently agreed on a new office to hold up to 120 team members.

With the combination of the services we offer our clients; Trading & Operations, Customer Service, ‘KYC, AML, Fraud & Payments and Player Retention, we are able to provide our clients with a holistic approach to strategy in their operational services. We are able to triangulate several sources of data for a clients operation and enable them to continue to shape their strategy just in a more optimal way, be it bonus strategy, retentional mechanisms, product enhancements etc.

How does customer service integrate with areas like KYC and AML?

In iGaming, the lines between services like customer support, KYC, and AML often blur. Depending on the operator, customer service might be expected to handle payment support, KYC checks, or even fraud detection. Offering these services together allows us to provide a comprehensive support system that covers essential risk areas and keeps operations secure.

Our expertise extends across these areas, giving us the flexibility to support clients with a unified approach. With subject matter experts in each field, we help customers resolve a wide range of issues while safeguarding operational integrity. This “one-stop shop” model reduces the need for multiple suppliers, simplifying management for our clients and minimising the risk of control issues.

Is customer service the most effective way of engaging with players and building trust? Why is this so important for online casinos and sportsbooks?

Customer service is certainly one of the most effective ways to build trust with players and ensure they are retained, but naturally, high-quality and efficient customer service is most impactful if it is part of a broader engagement strategy. Effective, responsive support reassures players that they’re heard and assisted whenever needed, however, combining customer service with transparent communication, personalised experiences, and consistent value can deepen engagement even further. Ultimately, customer service is crucial, but a holistic approach, as mentioned previously, that also prioritises user experience and multiple trust-building measures is most effective for long-term engagement.

As discussed already, industry reputation and player confidence are two areas that both sportsbook and casino operators rely on. Players are not only investing their time but of course also their money, and any doubts about fairness, security, or reliability can damage these two factors and quickly reduce engagement with their brands. Transparent communication and integrity can be achieved through quality customer service both of which are building blocks towards long-lasting success in this industry.

The post Movers and Shakers: Why Customer Service is the Unsung Hero in Player Retention: An Insider’s Perspective on Maximizing Lifetime Value in a Competitive Market appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Monthly Column

Movers and Shakers: Tereza Melicharkova: There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for creating sustained engagement

Published

2 months ago

October 11, 2024

George Miller

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Reading Time: 5 minutes

Writing for European Gaming, Tereza Melicharkova, Head of Marketing for Swintt, discusses the importance of knowing each individual target audience when creating a software portfolio that caters for the widest cross-section of players possible.

In an industry as dynamic as iGaming where new trends come and go, player preferences are constantly evolving and what constitutes the blueprint for a successful release can differ wildly from one market to the next, Swintt has always believed that the key to long-term success lies in creating a content portfolio that can appeal to as broad a cross-section of customers as possible.

While it’s true that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for creating casino games that consistently hit the mark with players and create sustained engagement for the operators that host them, there’s definitely something to be said for diversifying your offering so that you always have the opportunity to tailor the content provided via your partnerships to account for all local audiences.

In doing so, you’ll ensure that you’re not effectively placing all your eggs in one basket by sticking to a single tried and tested formula, but are instead building a library that is capable of tapping into regional differences while still retaining the hallmarks of your brand. It’s precisely this line of thinking that led us to developing the multiple product lines that exist within the Swintt portfolio.

Balancing Legacy and Innovation

For those who are unfamiliar with how Swintt operates, we always sort our releases into one of three main categories. The two founding product lines in our software portfolio are SwinttPremium and SwinttSelect, but we’ve also diversified our offering further with Elysium Studios – Driven by Swintt titles that have arrived following our acquisition of the developer earlier this year.

Going through the different product categories one-by-one, the Swintt Premium range was developed with a view to appealing to audiences who have a fondness for the kind of slot you’d normally find in a land-based gaming venue. Typically combining classic casino-style graphics and sound with familiar fruit-based symbols, each Premium release offers a recognisable, easy-to-trigger feature such as our signature “Book” Free Spins or the popular “Pearl Respins” bonus.

Successful examples of SwinttPremium slots include releases in the aforementioned “Book” series like Seven Books Unlimited as well as games like Big Max Pots and Pearls – and what we’ve seen from these titles is that they generally perform well in markets like Germany and the Netherlands, where the average player is a little older and more traditional tastes typically prevail.

Of course, while it’s obviously important to cater for these “legacy” players, doing so should not come at the cost of innovation and supplying a more immersive slot experience to the newer generation – and this is where our SwinttSelect line-up comes in. Known for their state-of-the-art designs and pioneering bonus features, our Select games push the boundaries of what’s possible from a slot and have proved incredibly popular in tech-savvy markets like the UK and Scandinavia.

In particular, our XtraSeriesTM games – including our most successful release to date, Aloha Spirit XtraLockTM – have really helped showcase what a talented team of developers we have by providing a range of unique and engaging themes as well as bonus features players won’t find from any other provider. By offering these titles, we ensure Swintt is capable of catering to the needs of a wide range of players while also reflecting the demands of each market we operate in.

Having A Mobile-First Mindset

As I referenced earlier, Swintt’s acquisition of Elysium Studios in January this year really was a major step forward for the company, as it enabled us to not only further diversify the portfolio of content that we offer to partners, but also to double down on all of the things that have made our Select line-up such a success by introducing even more ambitious designs and thrilling features.

As a provider that has carved out a fairly specialist niche in the industry for creating game mechanics that draw on a variety of social, video and casino gaming factors, Elysium Studios was always going to be a key part of how Swintt looks to engage with the next generation of casino customer. Featuring cutting-edge designs, quirky themes and a huge variety of features in every release, the Elysium Studios – Driven by Swintt range really has taken our offering to new heights.

What is perhaps particularly notable about Elysium Studios is their mobile-first approach to game design – and while this has always been a big priority at Swintt, by working together with them, we’ve definitely taken things to the next level. With mobile now accounting for the majority of all online casino play, having immersive bonus features that utilise tap and swipe touch-screen functionality has been an incredibly powerful tool in helping us connect with modern audiences.

We’ve already seen from the success of games like Law of Gilgamesh and Fox Tale that there’s a real demand among newer players for titles that replicate the user experience of the popular mobile games that they’ve grown up with – and if the buzz around our upcoming release, I Hate Fairytales is anything to go by, we’ll have many more success stories with the studio in the future.

It’s All About Entertainment

Of course, while having several strings to our bow has been a key component of Swintt’s success in penetrating multiple regulated markets, it’s equally important that for all our different product lines, we’ve never lost sight of who we are and what we stand for. We see online casino gaming primarily as a form of entertainment – and whether they’re playing Premium, Select or Elysium Studios releases, our players can always be sure they’ll be getting a fun and exciting experience.

We pride ourselves on providing top quality titles with a real flair for the creative, and this definitely extends to the way that we market ourselves to partners. From our stand at SBC Lisbon that promoted I Hate Fairytales with a free-to-enter hammer strength competition to the Swinttopia board game we created to celebrate our five year anniversary, we’ve always tried to find inventive ways to promote our products and this has been a major factor in how we’ve grown.

By retaining this key creative strand across our entire portfolio, we’ve put together a product line-up that is varied enough to tap into the unique demands of each individual market without ever compromising the principles that have enabled Swintt to truly stand out as a brand – and in an industry as competitive as iGaming, that’s a really powerful thing to have working in your favour!

The post Movers and Shakers: Tereza Melicharkova: There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for creating sustained engagement appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.