Studios are not doing enough to market its games to operators and players and are “rightly focused” on game production and generating connections with operators and casino managers.
Those were the thoughts of Zsolt Vereb, Head of Technology at First Look Games, who delved into the importance of studio’s client areas, how FLG aids studios to overcome associated challenges supplier’s face and how affiliates can play a bigger role in promoting games.
Explaining more on the studio’s focus, Vereb noted that this way of thinking leaves “very little” free time and resources for suppliers to market games, both to operators and players.
He continued: “There’s also uncertainty over the ownership of game promotion. Even with the studios that work with us, there can be confusion as to where to position First look Games within the business.
“Sometimes we’re seen as a marketing resource, others as a tool to support the commercial team. We can be both, but it shows just how new game promotion is and how the vast majority of studios are yet to even unlock let alone maximise its full potential.”
Looking into the importance of a dedicated client area for a games studio, Vereb emphasised that it is “one of the most powerful” promotional tools available to companies, expressing that it acts as a “shop window” for operators and their casino managers to see slots, along with any accompanying information in one place.
“Managers can also put each game through its paces to see if it’ll be a hit with their players,” Vereb added. “The online slot market is fiercely competitive, and a branded client game lobby can really help studios stand out from their rivals and secure those vital, lucrative, operator deals.”
However, client areas are never fully straight forward, with bumps and hurdles presented when attempting to launch. This, Vereb stated, was down to the “significant undertaking”, that requires a “vast, powerful and secure” platform that needs to be easy to use.
“The sheer volume of storage that’s required can stop studios in their tracks – terabytes of space are needed to host game sheets, assets, images, videos and even demo games,” Vereb explained.
“Security is also a major undertaking. Studios, and especially smaller developers, simply don’t have the available resources to build out a client game lobby. They’re too busy creating games and trying to get them in front of operators and players, and that’s why many go without.”
Providing information on how FLG aids studios to overcome the aforementioned challenges, Vereb noted that the company realised it already had the technology to build a dedicated, white-label client area for studios to help supplier’s launch easily via a client game lobby.
The Head of Technology commented: “The First Look Games White Label Platform has been tested with up to 30TB of allocated space and 800,000 active files – it can even support individual file sizes of up to 10TB with the platform sitting behind Cloudflare’s cutting-edge cyber security defences.
“It’s also flexible and fully customisable, allowing studios to push their brand and identity. In short, it’s a fast, efficient and effective way for studios to roll out a client game lobby without delay.”
Away from the perspective of game studios and operators, Vereb touched upon how the growing influence of affiliates can help promote games moving forward. On this point, he revealed that affiliates can drive awareness of a studio and its slots.
“Affiliate marketing allows studios to put their games in front of engaged audiences and build anticipation and excitement around future releases,” he commented. “For established studios that have highly sought-after content coming, it can drive large numbers of reviews along with significant awareness that a new game is set to land.
“For small studios starting out, it can actually make the difference between being prioritised for an operator integration or being left out. For those that sit somewhere in the middle, game promotion via affiliates can drive much greater ROI.”
Vereb also noted an added bonus using affiliates is that studios can utilise feedback received from reviews and player comments to clarify on what works and does not work in slots to aid guide future development.
This is something that Vereb claimed was “incredibly valuable” due to affiliates being the “only authentic way” for studios to obtain this type of feedback.
