Egaming Monitor: Trend towards generous slot variants
Generous game variants with no change to graphics may be a new recipe for success. Not content with seasonal, sequel or sub-theme variations, Pragmatic Play is now rolling out their 1000 series for tumbling slots. They feature higher top-end multipliers, although not at the expense of standard payouts.
The result: a set of games that offer higher Return to Player (RTP) than their namesakes. Note though that these RTPs can still be tweaked downwards by operators – more on this a bit later. Gates Of Olympus, Sugar Rush and Sweet Bonanza all have ‘1000 series’ games in the top 10.
High top-end payout sequels are nothing new, of course – Starburst and Gold Blitz are just two that have spawned extreme variations. There is a subtle difference here: first, the improved multipliers are absorbed into an improved RTP.
Top prizes are not offset by lower returns on the more frequent win lines, which would otherwise have created higher volatility variants. Second, the artwork, gameplay and even wording of the new titles are almost unchanged.
The thinking then is that if you offer loyal players something highly familiar but with better value, you may ultimately encourage them to migrate away from the original, or better still, play both.
Top 20 games by distribution
Sequels rarely displace originals for anything more than a fleeting week or two but here’s a prediction to validate in a couple of months: the likes of Gates Of Olympus 1000 will top the charts by November… or at the very least outperform the Gates Of Olympus original.
Whether overall revenues on these more generous games are better for operators and/or studios, however, is a different question entirely, and one that will determine their longevity in the charts.
The complex price/volume curve may well bend in their favour as higher rewards encourage players to play for longer, offsetting the lower margin per spin. The only spanner here is a casino exec or two who is either wedded to or reluctantly targeted on, margin or hold percentage, i.e. the supplier side of the RTP coin.
Margin per spin or per game are useful metrics yet, as targets, they often have undue influence in the gaming world. Especially when compared with financial metrics such as turnover per game or customer lifetime value, revenue per player per game and/or the underlying engagement metrics, such as spins per session, session lengths, frequencies and/or game engagement levels.
Moreover, margins are themselves a function of the very volatility of the games we offer, especially at the hands of high rollers. Given a drift towards higher variance games in recent years, casino yields in turn will show more fluctuation.
Riding the dip
Even for standard RTP games, it takes a brave voice to calm the nervousness that greets big swings in margin, whether these swings are down to genuine variance or VIP activity. So when theoretical RTPs of these new variants are higher and thus the average margin figure really does dip, a whole bundle of underlying engagement and turnover data will be needed to prove, or disprove, that money isn’t being left on the table.
It only takes one arbitrary dip on a margin chart, for a whole suite of Extremes and 1000 series games to be bottom-shelved. The fact that most studios build in overrides for operators to bump up RTPs, gives a feel for how often these games may end up simply as high-variance versions of the originals, with no underlying value change for the player.
The margin picture is further complicated by the subtle misalignment between the interests of studios and operators. One group prioritises game switching, while the other is more attuned to customer burnout, resulting in dashboards that showcase different charts. Even when similar charts are presented, the respective price elasticity and engagement curves will highlight the divergence.
On the deals front, Bgaming now takes the top spot as the busiest studio dealmaker, adding Alea and BlueOcean Gaming as distribution partners recently.
Biggest aggregator dealmakers
Despite Slotegrator picking up the pace with its new studio integrations, EveryMatrix dominates the busiest aggregator category.
Biggest studio dealmakers
* Please note these are live charts so please ensure the month of August 2024 is selected in the dropdowns to match the analysis.
**The interactive games chart at the top excludes live games and table games. Game rankings are determined by the number of game appearances on the casino homepages of more than 3,500 casino sites. To access many other charts including game rankings, live and table games, positions on subpages or to filter game performance by game theme, game feature, market, or operator, please get in touch with our partner, Egamingmonitor.com. Egamingmonitor covers 67,000 games, 1,600 suppliers and 3,500+ operators.
***Data on deals by month was collected from April 2020 onwards and the rolling chart reflects current dealmaking performance, i.e. how many deals were signed over the last six months. Note that only deals either a) on company websites or b) in the gaming press or c) reported to us by studios and aggregators, are collated. Deals between studios & aggregators (and aggregators & operators) from all time are available via Egamingmonitor.com.