Becoming ‘regulation ready’ is key for studio game developers looking to enter new markets – and so using a standard package of tools and interfaces, such as Yggdrasil’s Game Adaptation Tools and Interfaces (GATI), can help alleviate any regulatory pain points.
That was a key finding in the sixth episode of What’s Up Ygg (available to download HERE) which shone a light on the evolution of GATI.
In the episode, we learned that the standard package of tools and interfaces from Yggdrasil is handling a lot of the ‘heavy lifting’ for game developers looking to bring new adaptations of their titles to market.
Beginning the conversation, Yggdrasil CEO Fredrik Elmqvist discussed the process behind GATI as he explained to listeners as to why the supplier chose to take on much of the role for studio game developers.
He noted: “What we have done is that we have taken all of the adaptation that we are doing for our integration within the regulated markets, including those customised integrations, and we have created a standard.
“This standard is then being offered to our partners for them to be able to access all of the markets that we operate in, as well as all of the customers that we have.
“I would say that this helps solve a bit of a headache. It’s a lot of heavy lifting that we have packaged into one set of tools and interfaces.
“How did we come up with this? From the beginning, it was altruistic to help everyone else. If we take a few steps back, we have decided through our analysis of the market, we saw that there was a lot of creative talent out there. They’ve done a race before, they want to do it again, they may even want to set up a new shop.
“We thought that these people should not have to go through all of that heavy lifting again, let’s provide them with these tools and interfaces to access our network and grow rapidly. We can then be the enabler of this growth.”
Joining Elmqvist on the episode was Björn Krantz, chief global market officer of Yggdrasil, Krzysztof Opałka, CIO at Yggdrasil, and Chris Ash, founder and business development officer at 4ThePlayer. Stewart Darkin, director of new media at Square in the Air moderated the session.
Krantz revealed that for him, one of the key benefits of the GATI platform is its ‘problem solving ability’ when it comes to becoming regulation ready. He explained that, among many other benefits, GATI ensures that game developers are compliant with varying different compliance standards, while also being able to meet operator requirements.
Fred added to the discussion by outlining that GATI is “a big thought process on problem solving for the markets, operators and onboarding,”
He added: “But if you’re looking at the business benefits per se, there is a pre-configured regulatory ready tool kit which is built on standard technology. So when a studio game developer is accessing, or bringing a game into GATI, the game also goes through a set of compliance and responsible gambling standards.
“When you develop a game using GATI, it also solves the problem of certain operator requirements. The development process is then shortened substantially because of the tools, documentation and automatic testing that exists. I believe that we have seen an approximately 30% reduction in development lead time which, I think, is amazing.”
Gaining the perspective of a developer who uses GATI, Ash shared his overall experience of the platform – highlighting that the tools and interfaces provided by Yggdrasil enable 4ThePlayer to keep a lid on its ‘secret sauce’.
He further revealed that intellectual property was a major factor when considering whether to use GATI, however the fewer ‘touch points’ has helped encapsulate the company’s IP more effectively.
“Intellectual property is obviously a major factor. In certain models, you have to teach somebody else’s developer how your game runs and walk them through your specifications,” added Ash.
“Not only does it take longer for that process to unfold, but you are telling someone else all about your ‘secret sauce’ as you do it. But with GATI, you aren’t doing that. You’ve encapsulated your IP more effectively.”
He concluded: “From our perspective ,we’re always trying to do something that’s different and interesting; something which hasn’t ever been done before. But as you can imagine, we don’t want to be teaching everybody else because that’s our intellectual property, our core so to speak.
“So with GATI, you’re in control of your own timelines because you’re doing the development yourself, meaning there’s less back and forth. There’s fewer touch points because it’s clear what we need to deliver – and we’re able to run our own timelines in order to do that.”
Watch the full episode here.
