Alastair Smith, Jackpot Business Owner at Relax Gaming, addresses the progress made since Dream Drop exploded onto the scene in May 2022, how the product has developed since launch and what the studio has in store for the future.
Dream Drop has recently hit a milestone of 30 MEGA jackpot winners. Did you envisage such overwhelming success when launching the product four years ago?
This milestone sums up the success of the product perfectly. It’s exactly what the jackpot space needed when Dream Drop launched four years ago, and it continues to lead the way today.
To be able to say we’ve created 30 MEGA jackpot winners in such a relatively short space of time, and delivered life-changing amounts of money to players around the world is incredibly special. That’s ultimately what makes Dream Drop stand out above the rest with a mix of high value jackpots with the must drop mechanic, combined with the incredible frequency of the drops.
From the beginning, we felt there was a gap in the market. We’d seen the popularity of traditional must-drop jackpots as well as the appeal of huge progressive prizes, but nobody had successfully combined both mechanics into one product. That’s where Dream Drop changed the game, and the rest is history.
The launch was at a perfect time when there was a huge demand from players for more action and more frequent opportunities to win significant prizes.
Dream Drop, through its must-drop functionality and fast-paced jackpot cycle, delivered exactly that to players, plugging a gap particularly for those operators that prefer to steer clear of higher max exposures: Dream Drop gives the thrill of life-changing wins without operators needing to foot the bill for it.
A year ago, we evolved the product even further by introducing Daily Jackpots and lowering the MEGA must-drop threshold to €2M. Doing so helped keep the network constantly ‘hot’, with jackpots recovering quickly and players feeling like a major drop is always just around the corner.
Right now, the next MEGA Jackpot is approaching ‘Super Hot’ territory – almost at €1.8m which, given it fell less than a month ago, really highlights the excitement and momentum the product continues to generate four years on.
On launch, this was labelled as “without a doubt one of the biggest product launches” in company history. Do you believe that it has lived up to such initial lofty optimism?
Absolutely. If anything, it’s exceeded expectations. Dream Drop has gone beyond what we originally imagined and continues to evolve in order to remain the hottest jackpot product on the market.
The industry moves quickly and players always want something new, so the challenge has always been how we continue to innovate while keeping the core DNA of the product intact.
Four years later, we’re celebrating 30 MEGA winners, hundreds of millions paid out across the network, and a portfolio that now spans 55 Dream Drop titles across six studios.
What’s particularly satisfying is that the demand continues to grow. Operators see the retention and engagement benefits of the product, while players love the anticipation and unpredictability of the must-drop mechanic.
It’s also a really exciting product to work on internally. A huge amount of effort goes on behind the scenes from multiple teams across Relax to ensure Dream Drop continues delivering the best possible experience. This is extremely satisfying as the demand is clearly there to keep growing.
In terms of geographies, how far and wide have the winners been spread? Has any country proven to be particularly successful?
For the MEGA Jackpot, it’s been a global spread, which is in line with our customer base. That said, we have had 2 MEGA drops on a partner in Hungary this past year which, given the size of the market, is pretty impressive!
One of the best things about Dream Drop is that once the jackpot enters ‘Super Hot’ territory, it can literally drop at any moment to anyone playing within the network. You simply need to be spinning a Dream Drop game at the right time.
For the rest of the jackpot levels, the UK and Netherlands have a lot of lucky players, but I guess that’s less to do with luck and more to do with jackpot audiences in general!
We’ve celebrated winning players from all over the world, including Canada, Belgium, Romania and many more. I believe it is this sense of unpredictability which is a huge part of the excitement because every player knows they have exactly the same opportunity to land a life-changing win regardless of stake size or location.
Having this type of accessibility has been really important to the product’s success and has helped Dream Drop resonate with a broad global audience.
The product has been added to a number of titles within your catalogue. Which of these have proven to be most popular among players, and why do you believe that this is the case?
Every title is developed with a different strategy and player audience in mind. That said, when many people think of Dream Drop, they immediately think of Temple Tumble 2 Dream Drop, which really captures the Relax DNA perfectly by combining the Dream Drop mechanic with one of our most recognisable and successful gameplay formats.
Another huge hit has been Bonsai Dragon Blitz Dream Drop which was launched a year ago in conjunction with the Dream Drop 2.0 enhancements, and the title continues to keep a large selection of our Dream Drop players entertained.
Part of the reason the portfolio works so well is because Dream Drop isn’t tied to one specific type of gameplay. It can complement highly volatile experiences, feature-heavy slots, tumbling mechanics, classic formats and everything in between.
For example, a big difference between our 2 top titles is that Temple Tumble 2 has our signature jackpot round animation, where Bonsai Dragon Blitz has the jackpot wins built into the base game: one catering to the more casual player enjoying the anticipation of a jackpot spin, and the other to a more fast-paced player, wanting to spin through to their next win.
Players enjoy the fact that no matter which Dream Drop title they choose, there’s always something that little bit different that keeps jackpot play interesting for them. As the network has grown, we’ve also seen players actively seek out new Dream Drop releases because they already trust and recognise the brand behind the mechanic.
With such a lengthy back catalogue, how do you select which titles are the best fit and will have the most impact?
It’s a real collaborative process involving several teams across the business. We spend a lot of time analysing player behaviour and data to identify which types of experiences players are looking for next.
There’s always a bigger picture behind every Dream Drop release, and we have to think carefully and meticulously about pacing and roadmap planning. Dream Drop titles need to feel like events in their own right, so timing is extremely important.
Some games are naturally better suited to the mechanic because of their gameplay flow, volatility profile or feature structure. Others stand out because they bring something completely fresh to the portfolio.
The key is maintaining variety while ensuring every Dream Drop release still delivers that same excitement players expect from the brand. Four years in, we’re still finding new ways to evolve the product and keep things feeling fresh, which is incredibly exciting for us moving forward.
