New data has revealed that online casino players are continuing to return to old favourites despite the endless scope of slot innovation.
Kinetic Digital has found that players are consistently drawn to familiar mechanics and recognisable themes across its Mega Casino brand, rather than choosing to explore new releases.
In particular, fishing games, a stalwart of the slot genre, make up almost half of Mega Casinos’ top 20 most-played slots. Pragmatic Play’s Big Bass Bonanza has had the most unique players at 15,552, while seven other games from the category also feature in the top 20.
Across the 20 titles, the number of unique players drops off sharply from Big Bass Bonanza’s peak to 2,380 for Blueprint Gaming’s Fishin’ Frenzy Bubble Bonanza, while only three titles have attracted over 10,000 unique players.
This stark difference further underlines that the majority of players are drawn to a small proportion of games.
Dom Aldworth, Kinetic Digital’s Head of Brand Marketing, explained: “Players are showing a clear preference for recognisable franchises that evolve over time, rather than simply chasing the newest release on the market.
“What we’re seeing at Mega Casino is that these games create long-term loyalty. When you combine strong brand recognition with repeatable mechanics, you create titles that players actively return to week after week.”
Alongside the number of unique players, this loyalty is also demonstrated by the return rate of players to the slot titles listed. Outside of a small number of outliers, the majority of titles within the charts enjoyed return rates between 25% and 46% over the course of seven, 30 and 60 days.
Interestingly, for almost all titles, the return rate increased as time passed, further affirming the trend that players are drawn back to the familiar despite the array of content that is available at their fingertips.
This trend towards the familiar demonstrates the lucrative opportunity on offer for suppliers that can hit upon a winning formula and can be rinsed and repeated to great effect.
This is evidenced most notably by the fact that Pragmatic Play’s Big Bass series, which debuted in 2020, occupies a quarter of the chart.
“The Big Bass franchise is a perfect example,” said Aldowrth. “Pragmatic Play has managed to build a series that feels instantly familiar to players while still introducing enough variation and innovation with each release to keep engagement levels incredibly high.”
