Personalisation and UX for live casino growth
In the 90s when online casinos first emerged, bandwidth, credibility, integrity, and accreditation of the games were some of the key issues affecting the industry. As technology and the continued multi-billion investment by the telecoms companies in both super-fast fixed line and the mobile 4G networks and infrastructure has increased the bandwidth to support the deployment of live dealer casino products for both desktop and mobile, the network is now good enough in most markets today.
Live and mobile casino gaming is the result of relentless consumer demand and of the gaming operators looking to keep pace with the needs of their gaming players. The popularity of live gaming and mobile for the player is due to the transparency, interaction and emotions of the live land-based casino environment that they are now able to replicate for the player without their having to leave the comfort of their home, via their desktop computer or smartphone while on the move.
Live dealer gaming allows players to confirm that the games are fair and trustworthy, as you can see and interact with the human dealer, which is one of the reasons for their rapid growth compared to RNG games.
Likewise, the regulatory requirements for game and software accreditation via testing labs to authenticate that online live casino games are of credible standards has been another driver in the success of live casino gaming. Many companies such as ours have chosen to have their live casino games tested and certified, assuring players of the highest levels of credibility they can receive from the live casino experience.
User experience
At GamePlay Interactive, we understand that today’s fast-changing landscape comes with the need to innovate continuously.
Many companies consider innovation and differentiation in regards to the hard, physical product. However, live gaming players just don’t buy a mobile phone because it’s a mobile phone and they can play the game. It’s what the phone can do for them and likewise for the game – it’s the experience, the engagement and how it makes you feel. We believe as a business that you need to embrace this simple belief of creating games that can connect emotionally with players to stay ahead of the competition.
Personalization and localization
As the market and product adoption reach greater levels of maturity, players become more demanding. Localization and innovation, therefore, becomes a differentiator for the operators and their live casino software providers in driving the creation and execution of new products, services, and business processes.
Being based in Asia, we understand the Asian market from South-East Asia to the Far East. We adopt the best and most favourable practices, localize these and apply them to the online casino space across the whole of the Asian Market.
We innovate and develop new variants to current games to give players more options to choose from during their gameplay. Through years of experience, dedication and, of course, in-depth research, we continue to consistently offer new games with innovative features that we can adapt and integrate into the traditional games offering.
To give an example of this, the operator interest in live dealer software has recently been stagnant without much innovation, particularly considering the market size and popularity in the Far East and South East Asia. We recognized that opportunity, and launched the world’s first localized games, such as 12 Diced Sic Bo, Super 98 Baccarat, Fantan, 3pictures, Sic Bo, Multi-Table Dragon Tiger, to online.
We subsequently expanded this localization still further, so all our games are provided for in eight different languages, catering to a huge segment of online casino players in Asia. Furthermore another product and localization feature, road maps, are available at our entire baccarat table; and similar charts for stocks, which is an essential feature in Asian land based casino play.
Identifying the online players’ preference to choose and play a different game at the same time is likewise an important attribute to the success of a game. Our multi-table view mode is designed to allow players to play more than three tables at one time, rather than having to switch views.
Current technology and trends have seen online players experiencing high quality on the sound and sight aspect. However, we see the user interface as being critical to enhancing the user experience moving forward. Hence, our own UI is designed intuitively to ensure online casino players understand the game quickly. They can also place their wager with payout odds presented clearly and concisely at one central focus point.
If you can imagine yourself in the casino, players do not play alone; they have friends playing along, or they are checking out the players with the luckiest streak and placing their bets along with this lucky player. To simulate this socialization-related betting aspect of the land-based casino experience, we created the seven-seater view where players can enjoy the fun and thrill of group betting, encouraging public bets with friends and other players.
In this mode, players can get their friends together on the same table. Players will be able to see other players’ wagers and bet amounts. For the single player, they can quickly look at fellow players’ winning record and hitch a ride to win money with that lucky player should they desire.
The future
With the continued technology advancements in mobile phones, the future will be about moving towards engaging online players through their mobile devices and improving the user experience with a more engaging user interface, along with higher quality products.
With mobile sales growing at a blistering pace in Asia, this represents a growing platform distribution channel, enabling a wider reach of potential users.
GamePlay Interactive is mobilizing up to ensure; players will receive a higher level of online engagement with a better sound and user interface experience through the mobile and web.
That is why we as a gaming solutions provider have taken those requirements into account and have produced market-ready, feature-led products for different devices, with gaming entertainment, personalization, localization and socialization central to that process for innovation and differentiation across mobiles, tablets and desktop.