In an industry that spans numerous verticals and a plethora of regulated markets to target, boasting portfolio variety is essential, especially when you factor in the rising tide of competition.
This is the point of focus for SYNOT Games as the studio aims to build on past successes to ensure a fruitful future. Despite PEAK dominating many recent conversations, a future strategy built on portfolio diversification and tactically targeted geographies is stressed.
Chief Commercial Officer, Martina Krajčí, explains to iGaming Expert just what this will comprise, what the latest is with their multi-channel retention tool, and how you stay ahead amid such fierce rivalries.
What should be the main focus?
For SYNOT Games, the answer, in brief, is a fairly simple one. This centres around ensuring that entry is secured into key jurisdictions where its content suite has been found to be a perfect fit.
With a particular direction outlined, New Jersey and Ontario fall firmly within the developer’s crosshairs, with preparation also underway to heighten its portfolio of US states within the next year.
“We’re excited about these developments,” Krajčí says. “We are strictly focusing on regulated markets. This is the key objective.
“We will definitely be entering the U.S. market with the best titles from our portfolio.
“We’re also finalising some other games apart from slots, and will be entering the regulated market with these this year. We have more information coming up really soon. Stay tuned.”
At the PEAK of our powers
Much internal fanfare has accompanied the player engagement and acquisition kit since its introduction, with the dilemma of player retention a constant headache for many in the industry around the world.
Following its debut in 2024, PEAK has witnessed a series of upgrades that are said to have had a significant impact on the business.
With the recent rollout of new PEAK features such as Challenges and Qualifications, Krajčí answers whether PEAK is currently considered a fully mature and complete engagement tool, or whether it is simply another step in a longer roadmap?
“This was exactly the decision that was made at the end of last year, that the PEAK tool is fully ready to use and, for now, includes everything that we need,” she explains.
“We are still listening to the feedback from customers and making some small adjustments for our clients based on that. It will be more customer-oriented.
“We will be focusing on monetising this tool to spread it across a larger operator base. We will be setting up some one-click promotions, which will help our clients have more seasonal-based promotions around various key dates throughout the year. They will be really easy to use, and a big addition for PEAK.”
Tailoring content and promotions to meet specific needs is hardly a new concept; however, in certain areas, it can prove to be a rather divisive subject.
This, arguably, centres around any long-term impacts that can be felt by targeting any of a number of specific holidays across the year, with Valentine’s Day, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas Day the most common.
Continuing the conversation, Krajčí looks at if there is value to tailoring offerings such as this to specific major holidays.
“You get long-term value as we know that operators are really overwhelmed, and sometimes they don’t have the capacity to work with a range of different tools,” she explains.
“We just want to make life easy for them. We really know our content. We have a ranking system for our games, so we know which ones are working perfectly for different promotions.
“This is a great value not only for us, but also for them to strengthen the performance of their casino.”
Countering changing challenges
As complex phenomena go, the gambling industry can firmly place user retention in a podium place. Just how do you keep players coming back for more?
Krajčí continues by looking at how she sees player engagement evolving within iGaming, and how is SYNOT Games adapting its product and portfolio to meet these expectations?
“It is challenging because every jurisdiction is different,” she notes. “Somewhere, something is prohibited or illegal to use, so we need to adjust that. Those are the small adjustments, but we have a really strong compliance and product team.
“They’re working hand-in-hand with these challenges, and we are quite successful with that.”
Operating in an increasingly regulated and competitive environment means that a number of key questions must be answered on a daily basis.
The number of new entrants within the space is certainly not slowing down, which heightens the pressure of maintaining any kind of upward trajectory.
Concluding the conversation, Krajčí elaborates on what could be the biggest challenges for game suppliers in the coming years, and how SYNOT Games is transforming these into opportunities.
“Everybody is focusing on regulated markets, which the changing of taxation all the time is affecting revenue and commercial strategies,” she concludes. “This has completely changed in the last ten years.
“We also have the ten-year anniversary of SYNOT Games this year. This industry is now completely different commercially. We have needed to adapt to that, as well as all of the requirements in development, to take our capacity to the next level.
“We are live in 45 jurisdictions, but there are many challenges throughout the year. It’s changing all of the time, but we are managing.”
