In a discussion led by Steve Schrier, chief executive of Sales Tribe, Drago was joined by Yggdrasil CEO Fredrik Elmqvist to outline their joint vision for the new collaboration between the two companies, explaining how they plan to maximise growth opportunities in the growing US igaming market.

This landmark partnership, Drago and Elmqvist highlighted, will give IGT exclusive access to a select number of Yggdrasil’s online slots which can then be rolled out to its network of operators in the US and Canada.

Both CEOs agreed that slot games are more universal than sometimes portrayed, but it is the mechanics which truly help a supplier to stand out from the crowd. For Elmqvist, something which game developers must prioritise is the overall player experience, ensuring that the math and UX for each title is a main focus.

“We have lots of experience in creating high game quality,” said the Yggdrasil CEO. “The games that we produce, however, are more universal. We haven’t developed any games that target a certain market. 

“I would say that certain mechanics are tailored towards certain markets, for example LatAm players, Japanese players and so forth. But from the slots development perspective, it is much more similar than people actually believe.

“Everything is much more about the quality and overall experience for the player. It’s all about creating a sense of excitement which can be distributed cross multiple territorial markets. We are very keen on bringing that excitement to the partnership with Enrico and the IGT team.

“We know it’s going to work because we have friends also in the US market who have provided some stats and feedback. We know what works. There are certain discrepancies and differences between the US and Europe. 

“It’s more like mechanics – certain things that work in Japan might not work in the US. But besides that, it’s a lot of similarities. It is always about the UX. The UX and the math behind the game – that’s what it is all about.”

Drago agreed about the importance of the game mechanics and said the partnership agreement will see a variety of Yggdrasil games launched on the IGT platform during 2022 and an additional set of games planned for the following year. 

He told listeners: “The type of digital content that IGT has developed and launched so far, is mostly from games that were developed for the retail and land-based sector. We have created a formula to transport those retail games into the digital space. This is where we really shine as a business. But clearly, this is not enough as player bases are changing. Players want and need to play different games.

“So Yggdrasil’s games, their style, richness and mechanics are something which are not known in the United States and the Canadian markets. We both strongly believe that this content can be successful. Yggdrasil’s content complements our offering. There is a very powerful rationale and proposition underneath this partnership. 

Making an entry into the North American market is no easy feat, and so securing a strong partnership with IGT appeared to be a natural step for Yggdrasil, Elmqvist told Schrier. 

He said: “I see the developments happening now across the US and North America as a whole, including some provinces in Canada. The European markets have developed,  and we have been part of  the regulatory transformation  that have taken place over the years. I think that as more states open up, the US and Canada will quickly catch up to where we are in Europe. 

“North America is going to be much trickier from a financial and regulatory standpoint, without a doubt. There are pitfalls, but there are also huge opportunities. That’s why I find it so interesting to go forward with the partnership with IGT. 

“I would say that in the same way as IGT has, we have developed multiple games using our own intellectual property. We develop mechanical frameworks and license them to our studios, we also run a third party to develop a network. If you look at our strategy in the United States, it was a very, very deliberate decision to find the best strategy partnership for North America. 

“We were contemplating going into North America on our own for various reasons, which we at the end decided not to do . Instead, we wanted to enter the market with a well-recognized and established regional partner. Of course, we spent time evaluating our prospective partners. We decided that if we can enter into partnership with IGT, there’s going to be a good scale of opportunities for both companies.”

Watch the podcast here.

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The podcast begins with a shared discussion between three representatives from Yggdrasil: CEO Fredrik Elmqvist, chief of global marketing operations Bjorn Krantz and head of product and programmes, Stuart McCarthy.

Alongside the podcast host Stewart Darkin, they were joined by AvatarUX managing director Marcus Honney and Mitri Wiberg, executive producer at Peter & Sons LLC. 

McCarthy kicked off the discussion by addressing the evolution of the YG Masters programme, and how it all stemmed from a plan to drive “greater relevance” for Yggdrasil.

He began: “The kick off point, which is more or less three years to the day, was when I joined the organisation. Fred reached out to me with this vision that he wanted to achieve. I had previously been working for another company in aggregation and had an understanding of the mechanics, how aggregation was working and how we thought we could do better. 

“Fred reached out and explained that he had this idea about driving greater relevance for Yggdrasil, expanding our portfolio, looking at how we can bring on new flavours of game content onto the platform. That was the inception of the programme really.

“We had this idea that we would be building game content, creating game engines on our side and then working with a small number of studios, delivering everyone to market with our boost tools.”

Reflecting on the influences behind creating the YG Masters programme, Elmqvist placed a focus upon innovation and creativity. He explained that, similar to the creation of Yggdrasil – a topic covered in the first episode of What’s Up Ygg – the company wanted to “do things differently” from anything else available in the market.

“We saw that there was a lot of creativity coming from all different angles, and we knew that there was an appetite for a lot of content,” he added. “We knew it would be difficult to increase the production and scale in a way that would be able to meet the growing demands from the market. 

“We said to ourselves ‘we have nimble technology, we can build something here that’s more scalable and more competitive’. 

“In the previous episode, I spoke about how we started Yggdrasil – and I thought we should take a similar approach to aggregation. I wanted to do things differently from what’s already out there. So we identified what can bring a lot of value for the entire chain, what would be of value to studios and our customers. That was the go-to-market starting point. 

“But to take the programme to the next level, we needed to do some further innovation with regards to technology in order to reshape YG Masters – something which would bring more value and more intellectual property.”

One of the key benefits of the YG Masters programme, according to Krantz, was the opportunity to benefit from a business of scale. 

Taking into account the changes in market dynamics, Krantz highlighted that many operators are now looking for differentiation within their games offering – something which he believes is possible through the YG Masters programme.

He said: “When we are talking to the customers across various different global markets, we know that market dynamics have changed a lot in the past few years. Now operators are looking for more relevance in the content that they have; they want to have more differentiation in their portfolios. 

“I think that the scale of operations here is also important because if you look at the regulatory side of the business and the cost of operating, a business’ scale is everything. The YG Masters programme enables us to offer that scale to partners which is very efficient.”

Talk soon turned towards some of the partners of the YG Masters programme, and their experiences of working with Yggdrasil. And for Honney, working with the supplier has helped drive a level of exposure which has meant people are now recognising AvatarUX as an individual studio. 

Discussing the reasons behind their partnership, he said: “From our point of view, I think we were the second one to join the party if you like. We joined for a lot of the reasons that both Fred and Stuart have already mentioned. But on top of that, it does also help that we knew the individuals involved, there was a relationship there already – we’ve seen each other through different situations. 

“But from a studio point of view, I’ve got to be able to take the emotion out of these relationships and be honest to the investors that we have in our company. We want to make sure that we go to the right partners because we’ve got a good portfolio of games.

“So having a programme like YG Masters with the mechanics and structure that was already in place meant that we didn’t need to worry about licensing or distribution – both of which are a huge cost to us, especially as a newer studio.

“If you look at the kind of revenues that we’re generating now compared to last year, it’s chalk and cheese. All of a sudden, people are noticing us and it’s given us an opportunity. Ygggdrasil has given us a level of exposure and people are starting to recognise us as an individual studio.”

Watch the full podcast here.

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Kicking off discussions, Yggdrasil CEO Fredrik Elmqvist talked listeners through the thought process behind GATI, as he explained why the supplier chose to take on much of the ‘heavy lifting’ for studio game developers.

He began: “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.”

Elmqvist was joined on the podcast by Björn Krantz, chief global market officer of Yggdrasil, Krzysztof Opałka, CIO at Yggdrasil, and Chris Ash, founder and business development officer at 4ThePlayer. The session was moderated by Stewart Darkin, director of new media at Square in the Air.

For Krantz, 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.

What Fred has outlined is that GATI is a big thought process on problem solving for the markets, operators and onboarding,” he said. 

“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 per cent 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 noted 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.

Ash added: “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. 

“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 continued: “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.

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The new podcast series, titled ‘What’s up YGG’, will consist of 10 episodes covering various topical issues including game development, partner collaborations, player experience, game engagement mechanics, jackpots, the streamer community’s impact on the industry and much more. 

Episodes will be hosted by Stewart Darkin, new media director at Square in the Air, and Yggdrasil CEO Fredrik Elmqvist. Discussing the launch of the podcast, Elmqvist said: “We are very excited to introduce our podcast series as a new channel to communicate with industry colleagues as well as our global audience with an interest in our fascinating sector.

“You can look forward to an interesting mix of episode topics, inspiring guests, and lots of fun. Across 10 episodes, we hope to give listeners real insight and analysis around several crucial industry subjects, challenges and opportunities together with our distinguished guests.

“At Yggdrasil, we are committed to being a global publisher of online gambling content and we continue to push the boundaries to evolve and innovate as a company. We can’t wait to share this podcast series with the world.”

The first episode is now available to download from numerous platforms and features Yggdrasil CEO Fredrik Elmqvist giving listeners an introduction to the company before reflecting on the journey that Yggdrasil has taken to get where they are today.

Yggdrasil believes that this new podcast series will cement its commitment to “being a leading worldwide publisher of online gambling content and will give it an opportunity to showcase its industry expertise and product offering to a wider audience”.

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The quickfire sports betting games developer was able to secure €1m in new funding, which will be directed towards expanding its product portfolio in the new year and ‘elevate its position in key markets’.

Elmqvist’s appointment as Chair of ParlayBay’s Board of Directors was announced earlier this month. The new hire will leverage his ‘vast experience and network’ gained through tenures at the likes of Yggdrasil Gaming and NetEnt in pursuit of the firm’s goals.

“It’s a really exciting time to have joined ParlayBay and I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds,” Elmqvist commented.

“In just over a year, the company has shown to be a pioneer that places product innovation at the forefront of its strategy. Raising €1m in these tough times is a sign of strength and that we are well positioned in the market.”

As 2023 comes closer and closer, ParlayBay has detailed plans to use the €1m in funds to back the launch of a new product, PARLAYPOWERS, a set of promotional tools using free bets, early bird bonuses and cash drops for stronger player engagement.

The tools will sit alongside the supplier’s existing product range, consisting of titles such as STREAK, BOSS, GEKKO, GREYHOUND and ANTE-X.

Headquartered in Malta with offices in Sweden and Poland, ParlayPay has set out a long-term goal to ‘disrupt the sports betting industry’, and finishes 2022 having completed a series of partnerships.

Notable firms to have linked with ParlayBay over the past 12 months include INDIBET, FINNPLAY, TOPsport and 7bet, the latter of which was the firm’s first customer for its real-money games offering. 

Patrick Nordwall, ParlayBay CEO, said: “We’re really pleased to have raised a considerable amount in our most recent funding round, especially given the current challenging climate.

“Fredrik joining our board is a fantastic addition as we ramp up our growth going into 2023. We’ve had a very good year and the money raised gives us the opportunity to drive things forward even quicker.” 

The post ParlayBay closes €1m as Elmqvist joins board appeared first on CasinoBeats.

This came as CasinoBeats caught-up with the man who enjoyed another significant development in the week that followed after officially taking over the reins of Yggdrasil from Fredrik Elmqvist.

In January 2020, a short-time before COVID enforced shut downs were ordered and ICE entered a lengthy hiatus, Yggdrasil detailed a vision of splitting the company into three divisions of affiliation, distribution and publishing.

Krantz, who joined Yggdrasil in January 2020 to lead the group’s publishing division, kicks-off the latest conversation by issuing an update on the progress endured since that point.

“I mean, first of all, we are very proud that we now have capitalised on the modern tech that has enabled us to realise the publisher strategy

“GATI, sitting in the centre piece of that strategy, enables for a much swifter and optimised commercialisation of not only our own games, but also how we work with our partners. 

“And what we have seen in capitalising on modern tech is a ramp-up of the complete roadmap, I would say. We went from around 30 games in 2020 to I think around 65 games in 2021. So that’s a double up that was enabled through the publisher strategy.”

A key part of the company’s roadmap, and one that has continued to gain momentum since, is that of YG Masters, which enables third party studios access to GATI – which stands for game adaption tools and interfaces – and other tools and services to develop, commercialise and distribute games.

“When we started the YG Masters, it was more of how can we support other third party studios to commercialise their innovative games through all these global channels of customers that we have,” Krantz said of the program’s evolution over time and current status.

“And any studio who feels that every game will get the hit forget about that”

“That was sort of the starting point and to do that in an effective way, then curating the programme a little bit and also looking at how we work with our own IP and game assets through the program. 

“We have seen that we can do more with our partners, we can be more strategic in how we’re working with our partners, and what we offer our partners as part of the programme. 

“And one of those elements is the GEMs, the game engagement mechanics, where we have created a set of high performing game framework IPs such as Gigablox, MultiMax, DoubleMax.

“We resell those IP frameworks back to our partners, and they utilise frameworks as a baseline for building high performing games. This is a great strategic win win, and which has been a very important evolution of the Masters programme.”

Alongside this continued uptick in performance is a complementary set of challenges that now accompanies games development, built upon the back of an endless stream of slots and a ‘shelf-life’ that appears to get ever shorter.

As each week passes a new set of challenges in the development of slots emerges, and a fresh wave of obstacles in aiming for success are confronted by studios.

“To produce a really good game today is not easy. You know, as we talked about a number of years back the market looked very different. Now the player community is pretty sophisticated,” it is added.

“They know what they want. So you need to be very player centric in order to at least get as close to the players needs as we possibly can in the development cycle. 

“And any studio who feels that every game will get the hit forget about that, it’s very, very difficult.”

“The US igaming market has been growing fantastically”

Krantz cites the importance of business intelligence and data points as crucial in maximising the opportunity for a slot to deliver, as well as stressing the importance of being “very close to the market”.

Furthermore, the necessity of making the most of the “important streaming community” is also highlighted due to the provision of “a tremendous amount of nice important insights that they give us on games”.

“As you were saying, the shelf time is pretty short. If you don’t give your absolute best, you know, in trying to understand the trigger points in that case centric development process,  you will have a few spins and you’re gone,” it is added.

“But if you understand the different elements in the player community, the BI connected with the player, direct player feedback, operator feedback, consumer feedback, you have a lot of great ingredients in order to enhance the chances for the games to be sticky. 

“And if it becomes sticky earlier than most likely it will have a better overall performance and a better lifetime value. And that is what I think everyone is after. So we are working very hard on this 360 view and there are a lot of stakeholders involved in making everything work in that view.”

To conclude, Krantz took a look at Yggdrasil’s global footprint, and addressed which regions are firmly on the radar for expansion in the near future.

“The partnership with IGT is truly a strategic decision in our regulatory expansion, and our market entry into the US market,” he concluded. 

“So, now we have our first game live, Vikings Go Wild in Michigan, and it has been working really well. The focus now is to launch that game over more brands into more states and then increase the output of games through the IGT partnership.  

“I fully understood  the potential of the IGT collaboration, alongside their trustful reputation. We had a number of key go to market evaluation criteria within our decision making process. The partnership with IGT ended up being a great fit. 

“So we’re very proud of the partnership and now it’s all about accelerating our joint efforts. The US igaming market has been growing fantastically over the past couple of years. And we obviously want a piece of that market.” 

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Krantz will be tasked with collaborating with senior management to lead the business into its next growth and globalisation phase.

“Björn is well known to the industry as his delivery track record is amazing and he has been a successful executive leader in rapid global growth environments for a very long time,” explained Elmqvist.

“In the past two years, Björn has been heavily involved in shaping and building Yggdrasil’s global market operations, as well as being a key contributor to the company’s growth strategy and execution planning.

“The time is now ripe to execute on this transition and it’s a great day for the board, myself, and the entire company to see Björn take over the helm. 

“I am confident that he will do great in propelling the business forward and take it to the next level. 

“I will have the pleasure to continue working with Björn through a more active board assignment, and will also provide my advisory knowledge in the best possible way to support the continued success of the company and its strategy.” 

As CEO, Krantz will build upon more than 12 years of C-level experience having previously been with gaming solutions provider NetEnt for a decade. He joined Yggdrasil in January 2020 to lead the group’s publishing division and most recently served as Chief of Global Market Operations.

Krantz commented: “It’s with great humbleness that I am taking over as CEO after Fredrik. I have enormous respect for the history, the company legacy and its awesome culture. 

“It’s all about the people and building strong and winning teams, and it’s a great pleasure for me to have such talented and motivated people around me every single day. 

“We have a clear strategy, and together with the rest of the management team I look forward to delivering on our global growth ambitions, and to further strengthen our position as the leading igaming publisher and premium global igaming solutions provider. 

“It will be a pleasure for me to continue working with Fredrik as a close ally and use him as a strategic soundboard as we enter the next phase of the company strategy implementation.”

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The “visionary leader,” as he was so affectionately introduced to get the session kick started, delved down numerous avenues, with disruption, game engagement mechanics, Swedish history lessons, and entrepreneurial insights all key facets of the half hour session.

With disruption pinpointed as being a crucial aspect of moving sectors and industries forward, Elmqvist elaborates to suggest that breaking down age-old rigid barriers was crucial in paving the way for igaming to progress and innovate as it continues to.

For Yggdrasil, this has resulted in the Ygg Masters programme continuing to flourish, something Elqvist touches upon with pride: “When we noticed that a lot of fragment, studios and creativity were popping up left, right and centre, we thought this market is going to be flooded with content so what do we do with that?

“Either we keep on doing what they did in the gold rush and we keep on digging for our own gold, which would be building your own games, or we start selling the shovels, because those were the ones making the most of the money, i.e. becoming an enabler and opening up a publishing arm.

“And we did both, so we are doing our own studio development, and also we are opening up for third parties and doing some really cool things to also disrupt the aggregation model by developing a really cool piece of technology called GATI, so all studios … have access to 600 brands [and] 25 regulated markets.”

As Yggdrasil moves from strength to strength, Andrew McCarron, SBC’s MD and Elmqvist’s host for the afternoon, switches the focus to look at what advice would be offered to the next rising stars in the space.

“…it’s not like the market needs a lot more content”

“I would say this, since we’ve seen a lot of studios and there’s a lot of competition now, I see a lot of studios, and I see a lot of studios popping up because they have the capacity to build something,” Elmqvist explains.

“Let that not be the driver for why you enter into the casino market, it’s much more of a, excuse my language, hit and shit market now. So, if you don’t know how to make hits, and the games won’t actually perform, I’d advise you to use that studio capacity for something else because it is very very competitive. 

“If you want to enter into it, and you have the capacity and all of that, do some proper R&D before.” 

Adding: “There’s a lot of content out there already, either through platforms like us or others, so it’s not like the market needs a lot more content. The need is something for a greater user experience. 

“So, take your time, do R&D, a bit like you do in the product development world. You don’t see factories starting on a whim, they don’t start a production line before they do the proper R&D so they know that the investment that goes in will actually return investment.”

Following warnings being issued on copying content and/or ideas, it is added that without proper R&D newer entrants will just drown because “it is tough out there now I’ll tell you that, it is tough out there”.

“If you are now getting a bit successful, you get some revenue up and running, think of it from a potential acquisition point of view. You might want to sell the company down the line,” the guidance continues.

“And I see a lot of not only studios but gaming companies that cut corners, especially from a compliance point of view, which means that the passion you put into the company, product and teams, might not be exitable because you cut a few corners in the early days.

“I know several companies that have had great products and so forth, but due to certain things, how they operated makes the assets more or less toxic.

“So don’t cut corners early, because, as my grandmother used to say, shit floats, and it will surface at one time or another.”

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Moderated by Square in the Air’s Stewart Darkin, episode four of the podcast series saw Yggdrasil’s CEO Fredrik Elmqvist, Björn Krantz, chief global market officer of Yggdrasil, and industry journalist Robin Harrison Milan touch upon the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, as well as the impacts of both COVID-19 and regulations.

Opening up the discussions, Elmqvist addressed some of the major dynamics at play across the igaming industry – pointing towards the more positive trends, and those which are not so positive.

“Industry dynamics is a super broad topic, and there are so many factors at play if you’re looking at it from a global perspective,” he began. 

“We are a casino developer at heart, but we’re now taking more of a publishing role, working more to enable external technology, enabling external studios and so forth. All of this is bringing relevance to our market. 

“But taking a few steps back and looking at the casino industry from a global perspective, we obviously see some turbulence in Asia. We’re seeing the impacts of regulation across Europe – these can swing either way.

“We’re all for the regulation, but restrictions which are too heavy can have a negative impact on the legitimate market. This can then create some really dark things – by that I mean counterfeit B2B and B2C organisations, hijack streams etc. 

“From the other side, we have things such as SPACs, sports betting etc. But as you can see, it’s a super dynamic landscape at the moment.” 

So when it comes to ensuring that new regulations aren’t to the detriment of player protection, Krantz underlined the importance of collaboration between the gaming industry and the regulators. 

He added: “This collaboration between the industry and the regulators is key. The regulator should also have an appetite to gain insight into the possible effects here; they should know what they want to achieve, and how to both streamline and harmonise the frameworks so that it is optimised towards responsible gaming measures. 

“If we look at Germany which has a one euro max bet, we hear in the market that this could drive the RTP down which is not good either. If you have a low stake, and then you’re taxed on turnover – which I think can, and most likely will happen in Germany – then you have no margins. In order to get any sort of margin, people will lower the RTP to get a little bit more out of it – but that is not helping players. 

“When you introduce measures which aren’t helping the player side of things, that’s when bettors start to look elsewhere and you have lower channelisation into the regulated market. 

“I think the main thing to consider here is balance. There is this collaboration and proactive dialogue which news to happen between the industry and the regulator – not just within one individual country but maybe on a wider scale.” 

Watch the full podcast here.

The post What’s Up Ygg: maintaining a regulatory balance across the igaming industry appeared first on CasinoBeats.

That was an opinion shared by Yggdrasil Gaming CEO, Fredrik Elmqvist, in the latest instalment of the company’s podcast series, What’s up Ygg.

The Yggdrasil leader was joined by guests from streaming partner CasinoDaddy to discuss how they approach working with the streamer community and how this impacts the industry.

The podcast began with a conversation between Elmqvist, Erik Joelsson, streamer at CasinoDaddy; and Kristian Egede Nielsen, key account manager at CasinoDaddy – alongside the podcast host Stewart Darkin.

Initiating the discussion with a question on how streamers are picked, Joelsson explained the risks of choosing a streamer to put in charge of managing money and keeping the channel safe from being banned, as well as taking care of the stream and its community. 

He said: “For us, we need people we can trust. We’re more on a personal level with the viewers than a business level.” 

Pressed on how to engage viewers, Joelsson revealed that there are different types of viewers with varied preferences which he mainly put down to two categories: the loyal viewers who stick around interacting with a stream, and the ones who jump between different hosts looking for the biggest bets and stakes. 

He concluded: “I can say for sure that if you’re doing bigger bets, you’re going to get more viewers.”  

Delving deeper into how streamers are often seen as the face of a brand to the player market, Elmqvist commented: “They can put demands on new operators coming in, in terms of having the right service levels catering for the players. 

“They can also align expectations for suppliers and tell us what we can do better for the players, bringing value to their community and also to the operators – so I think that they can take a really important role here and bring a lot of value for the industry.

It was at this stage that he highlighted: “For us as a provider we need to tread carefully and see who we partner with. We’d rather partner with the ones that we know are doing it right instead of taking the risk of working with everyone.”

Elmqvist continued: “The model of the streamer is also an enabler of creativity and that, as our publishing model, is enabling creative studios to come to market and launch quickly. 

“At the same time, they’re enabling new creative B2C operators to come to market quickly as well and I think that could also keep the market dynamic – so they can take the role of the ombudsman, they can take the role of the enabler, and they can also go down a darker route but as we know, the good guys always win.”

Joelsson added: “We are ten thousand or twenty thousand players within one player. Let’s say we play a new game before release, we build up the hype for the game and on the release date our viewers are going to play it because they’ve seen us play it, they’ve seen us talk good about it, we’ve shown the game, the possibilities and everything – so I think we can be the ombudsman for sure.”

Discussing how real-time feedback can bring value to the company, Elmqvist noted: “There’s nothing better than to test it with a real audience in a real environment, and not only here can we see the streamers play, but I think what’s key here is to see their community and their reactions.

“We see streamers wanting higher max wins, we see the operator saying ‘yeah that’s good but take it down a notch’ so we’re sitting there listening and taking in feedback from various industry players.” 

He concluded by explaining that with game development, the user experience needs to be aligned with the industry’s best players, the streamers. 

However, he stressed that we can’t let the streamers dictate how the roadmap is going to be created because that “may not be completely aligned with what the actual operators want and what gets the player’s money in”.

To watch the full episode of the podcast, click here.

For the first episode of the series on how innovation has been at the heart of the journey for Yggdrasil, click here.

And click here for the second on how the YG Masters programme has brought new flavours of game content. 

The post What’s up YGG: Partner with the streamers you know are doing it right appeared first on CasinoBeats.