Games provider Evoplay Entertainment has continued its global expansion strategy throughout 2019 as the relatively young organisation strives to gain further traction across the industry.
As the year draws to a close Roman Sadovskyi, product owner at Evoplay Entertainment, looks back at the last year and gives predictions for what 2020 could have in store.
CasinoBeats: Having been in operation for a relatively short period, what growth did Evoplay Entertainment enjoy during the last 12 month?
Roman Sadovskyi: For a company that was only founded two years ago, we’ve certainly had plenty to be excited about in 2019! Our fantastic development team have focused hard on creating slots that provide for an immersive experience with a story behind it, and our two latest slots, Reign of Dragons and Nuke World have proven to be a real hit.
Gaming tech has also come in leaps and bounds, and we’ve put the latest developments to good use. Everything from a mobile-friendly UX (featuring intuitive swipes, smart skips, optimised game weights and full vertical screen coverage) to a gaming experience designed to work across multiple markets no matter what smartphone or desktop model players use.
CB: Looking at the wider picture across the industry, what trends do you expect to come to fruition during 2020?
RS: Get ready for the streamers. Thanks to the emergence of smartphones outside Europe, such as India, Africa and LatAm, a whole new level of dominance is emerging when it comes to the legions of globalised players from across the world – and a level of international connectivity that was unimaginable even a decade ago.
Localised content is no longer in demand – today’s demographic considers themselves part of an international community. A game’s popularity today is based on recommendations from streaming platforms such as Youtube or Twitch, which are becoming increasingly influential.
Players broadcast their games live, communicate with viewers and share the experience from across the world – with player preferences no longer shaped by their regional location, but rather the trends they see emerging across the digital space – which has no borders.
My advice to operators and suppliers for 2020 would be to ignore them at your peril. If you want to be popular with the latest generation of players, make sure you’re popular with the industry’s streaming influencers. What makes a game ‘great’ rather than ‘good’ lies in their hands.
CB: Keeping on the trend of the new year, could you give us one bold prediction?
RS: I’m going to be bold and predict a radical change in slots. The future of slots is all about blurring the lines between igaming, gaming and entertainment. In an increasingly crowded brand landscape, offering a new method of gameplay is essential to marketing towards the latest generation’s behavioural patterns. With seconds to capture their attention, we need to go above and beyond ‘bet small and win big’ to meet the demand that the new generation of players desire.
We’ve done our part towards kick-starting the next era of gaming development, with our hugely exciting Dungeon: Immortal Evil ready for the market by early next year. The idea behind it was to merge the line between classic slots and immersive gaming – taking the best from both worlds and putting it together for a completely new user experience.
By doing so, we hope that our operator partners will be able to appeal to the emerging demographic of players who want more from their gaming experience than just the traditional flat, 2D slots that swamp the market.
Of course, tech is also going to be big, and we’ll likely see plenty of development towards making VR ready for a mass audience. We can see that there is already huge demand on the market for VR experiences, and there is no question of the fantastic potential it has to offer. Expect to see plenty in 2020 that brings it even closer!
