Under the terms of the new agreement, Green Jade will focus upon adding new gamification elements to its full suite of slots and future releases, which is set to encompass tournaments, missions, achievements and rewards with Hammer of Fortune set to be the first game to launch with these features. 

Benedict McDonagh, chief executive officer of Green Jade Games, said of the new agreement: “Partnering with CompetitionLabs allows us to include incredible gamification features in our slots without having to divert resources to developing these features in-house at a time when we are 100% focused on launching our first run of games. 

“Offering tournaments and missions within our slots, and rewarding players for completing them, brings another dimension to our slots and makes them even more exciting and entertaining to play and we look forward to seeing how players respond.” 

The alliance with Competition Labs comes shortly after Green Jade received its supplier licence from the UK Gambling Commission, allowing it to offer its casino games to operators and players in the country for the very first time. 

Green Jade will be able to create, test and launch new promotions alongside CompetitionLabs through its ability to combine data sources and leverage in-game data. 

Julian Steinwender, CPO of CompetitionLabs, added: “We are very excited about our collaboration with Green Jade Games and their vision to leverage, and link CompetitionLabs across all elements of the game in a true end to end approach to unlock a new level of engagement and player experience.  

“Their innovative game content and focus on player enjoyment make them an ideal partner to push the boundaries of player engagement forward together.”

The post Green Jade boosts player engagement with CompetitionLabs alliance appeared first on CasinoBeats.

This was the topic of conversation in one of the latest panel discussions at Malta’s CasinoBeats Summit, as representatives from both suppliers, operators and affiliates outlined the importance of meeting players’ expectations and optimising their experiences.

Led by SBC’s Managing Director Andrew McCarron, the ‘It’s not just a game – delivering immersive experiences’ panel began by questioning whether the introduction of new formats, mechanics and bonus features requires a level of education for the player for it to truly captivate them. 

Providing insight on this topic was Chris McGowan, Head of Gaming at Scatters, who suggested that, although there is a need for players to understand what they’re doing, too much in-game education can stunt player engagement.

McGowan said: “It is important that they understand what they’re doing, you don’t want the game to be way over complicated and they don’t have a clue where to start from. We’ve seen some games coming out where before you actually play the game, you first have to see a demo on how to play it.”

“I don’t think we should look at mobile and desktop in the same view”

Matthias Ciappara, CCO at CompetitionLabs

“The player is coming there for a relaxing time, and a good time, but they’re not there to come to school, right? If you can’t shout it to a passing car and they can’t understand it through a car window, it is already way over complicated.”

While mobile gaming continues to be a staple vertical for playing online casino products, the panel moved on to discuss whether bringing the desktop experience to mobile players might be a cause for concern. 

Matthias Ciappara, CCO at CompetitionLabs, believed that comparing mobile and desktop experiences is somewhat unnecessary, stating: “I don’t think we should look at mobile and desktop in the same view.”

“When we’re playing on mobile, you have a basic screen size and my eyes can only consume so much information before I get anxiety. If you have too many things in one go I either don’t understand what’s happening or feel anxiety because I’m not sure what to do.”

“If a player starts losing money and is not understanding what is happening, the player is never going to come back.” 

Looking into the psychology behind Ciappara’s notion of focus and player retention, McGowan explained that the average player can only focus on so much at once, and when a game session becomes tough they tend to focus on one thing only. 

He stated: “In psychology, we’ve got a magic number seven. Seven plus or minus two. Some people can focus on nine things, but I might focus on about five things. So, reels that are more than that become extremely complicated.” 

“One thing that is quite interesting is a group of researchers found that when they’re [players] concentrating on the game and they lose pretty much everything going on around them, eye tracking software has found that the only thing they are focusing on, or 90 per cent of the time, is actually the in-game balance.”

“you need to have a full vision of how a player will experience your product”

Kristjan Farrugia, CPO at WKND

“When we have too many features we are actually distracting from this, it’s harder for the player to maintain being in the zone of their game session. So, while some certain features and animations are nice, it comes down to: do you really want to captivate their attention, or not?”

The panel were also joined by Kristjan Farrugia, CPO at WKND, who, due to his role, was questioned whether UX teams should have an earlier involvement in developing new gambling products. To put it simply, Farrugia replied “100 per cent”. 

He continued: “You need to have a full vision of how a player will experience your product, and that would mean that everything should evolve from that. Ultimately, we’re here to entertain people.” 

Bringing a supplier’s perspective to this subject, Ciappara responded by stating that he definitely agrees, explaining: “I can design the most amazing mechanic ever but if it can’t be presented to a player in an undisciplined fashion, that feature won’t work.”

Ciappara added: “Bringing the UX team as fast as possible, to even just the creation phase, makes much less back and forth when you’re four months down the line and you start realising that the feature isn’t going to work, because UX will not click.”

“It’s about trying to get as many people as possible in the room that can bring different perspectives and ideologies to create a more cohesive product.”

The final panellist providing insight on the topic of immersive experiences was Jason Attard, Head of UX & Design at Game Lounge, who touched on the subject of operator patience when it comes to offering new games and features. 

Upon being questioned how much time a provider has to convince an operator when supplying them with new products, Attard stated that the igaming sector is “a very fast paced industry”.

He continued: “When it comes to stuff like this, it is going to be very challenging, especially when we are always trying to be agile while delivering the best product that we can.” 

“Unless vr technology changes to where you don’t need bulky headsets, I don’t think it will take off”

Chris McGowan, Head of Gaming at Scatters

This led to Attard voicing ways in which suppliers can work around the time deficiency when supplying games to operators, citing reskinned products as an easy way to reduce the turnaround time and guarantee operator satisfaction. 

With igaming constantly evolving alongside emerging technological advancements, McCarron posed an interesting question about the possibility of utilising VR in the online casino world, due to its prominence in the video game industry.

However, most panellists were quick to explain that there is too much in the way between VR and satisfactory gaming experiences. 

“Unless VR technology changes to the point where you don’t need bulky headsets, I personally don’t think it will take off,” claimed McGowan. 

“We’re saying that players want to be playing in a five-minute break, or a lunch break or while waiting for the bus. Do people really want to be walking around with a heavy box just to play a slot game?” 

While Attard suggested there is a clear potential for VR with a case for table game usage, suggesting roulette as a good fit, he pointed out that players using VR for social reasons like playing with friends “might as well just go to the casino”. 

The post CasinoBeats Summit: Finding immersion while fighting overcomplication appeared first on CasinoBeats.

In addition to its bonus system, CasinoEngine will now offer its clients an “advanced toolkit” and several player engagement features designed to optimise acquisition and retention campaigns.

Julian Steinwender, chief engagement officer of CompetitionLabs, stated: “EveryMatrix is a great partner to work with and we believe that their commitment to both customers and players alike has been showcased for the past decade.

“CasinoEngine is a high-performing product and our gamification platform will help them increase their customer engagement even more. We understand that gamification can be daunting, which is where the CompetitionLabs software and consulting services can help out.”

Through the new integration with CompetitionLabs, CasinoEngine’s clients will enjoy a selection of gamification tools, such as tournaments, leader boards and mission-based achievements, which can significantly improve player retention and lifetime value. 

EveryMatrix asserts that via the link-up it’s hoping to see increases in metrics related to player engagement, turnover, player loyalty and brand favourability, while not encouraging negative behaviours, thus also helping in their responsible gambling efforts.

“We’ve been thoroughly researching partners in this area and CompetitionsLabs’ credentials are impressive. EveryMatrix helps customers to differentiate and innovate their businesses through our solutions, and CompetitionsLabs’ gamification platform is an excellent fit for us,” noted Stian Enger Pettersen, CEO of CasinoEngine.

“Thanks to this integration, our casino clients can now take full advantage of this real-time toolkit to quickly roll out tournaments and missions, and we are confident that players will be excited by the skinnable widgets.”

The post EveryMatrix lauds ‘impressive’ CompetitionLabs appeared first on CasinoBeats.

The latter, which comments that it has been busily “investing extensively in technology,” sees its latest deal as being pivotal in delivering on its strategy of adding value to operators by freeing them from capability constraints.

The integration of Competition Labs’ engagement technology brings new gamification tools to the United Remote platform, adding missions, achievements, challenges and competitions to the group’s existing loyalty portfolio. 

It is hoped that via the additional gamification techniques higher player retention rates, increased levels of new game adoption and player engagement with brands will be felt. 

Using CompetitionLabs’ real-time rules engine, operators can use up to the second data to improve segmentation and content relevance.

“Competition Labs’ gamification delivers excitement and entertainment in spades around personalised experience, so it’s a WIN:WIN:WIN for players, operators and ourselves,” explained Jeremy Fall, CEO of United Remote.

“With these powerful new tools available in the United Remote portfolio, operators can literally create new shapes and forms. Our partnership with Competition Labs puts us in a position to give operators a unique toolkit which enables and accelerates their innovation cycles, driving engagement and revenue up.”

United Remote has conducted an extensive review of their existing agreements, streamlining and placing renewed emphasis on player protection, compliance and transparency.

Julian Steinwender, co-founder and CPO at CompetitionLabs, added: “We are delighted to bring our pioneering gamification tools to United Remote’s platform. Our tools are all about enhancing operator creativity and player engagement – with United Remote we find a unique kindred spirit. The sky’s the limit.”

Earlier this week online casino software developer Revolver Gaming continued to expand its operations after unveiling a distribution agreement with United Remote.

The post Gamification boost via United Remote and CompetitionLabs partnership appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Aiming to introduce “a compelling new offering for both players and operators,” customers of CompetitionLabs’ platform benefit from real-time leaderboards and achievements, with the ability to rapidly prototype new rules and scoring mechanics.

“We love it when our customers push the edge – Kalamba Games is a welcome addition to the CompetitionLabs family,” noted Julian Steinwender, CPO at CompetitionLabs.

Since 2017 CompetitionLabs has been aiming to utilise its platform to usher in an igaming transformation via its real-time gamification toolkit. The company asserts that it “champions” customer-centric mechanisms, such as leaderboards, achievements and quests. 

Andy Sekula, head of games at Kalamba Games, commented: “CompetitionLabs gives us a platform that keeps up with customers – genuinely up to date achievements and promotions and tools that allows us to innovate and push the boundaries of player engagement. 

“Game interactivity and fun for our players is at the heart of Kalamba’s strategy and CompetitionLabs fits perfectly with this.”

Last month CasinoBeats rolled-out a new series looking at the varying influences that can affect individuals, with even, what seems on the surface, the smallest incident able to have a profound effect on the character and development of individuals.

Those in igaming are undoubtedly no different, but one segment whose reach throughout the sector can’t be denied concerns the many generations of video games platforms and the seemingly unending spin-offs that ensue.

Continuing to ask those across the industry to elaborate on their own paths, Konrad Nykiel, art director at Kalamba Games, picked up the conversation and spoke of his influences here. 

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