In an iGaming market where scale, speed and sustainability now matter as much as standout content, the definition of a ‘tier one’ supplier is shifting fast.
Ben Wood, CCO at Playson, Ahmed Baker, CCO at Incentive Games, and Daniel Kalinowski, Affiliate and Social Media Manager at Blueprint Gaming, join iGaming Expert to discuss what it takes to compete at the top in 2026, from technical resilience and regulated-market expansion to AI, localisation, operator partnerships and the next wave of player engagement.
What does “tier one” actually mean in today’s iGaming landscape, and has that definition changed over the past few years?
Ben Wood,: Tier one used to mean scale alone; the biggest distribution, the largest portfolios, the widest market reach. I believe that, in 2026, that definition is now far more nuanced. Operators now expect suppliers to combine strong content with regulatory agility, technical reliability, localisation, and measurable business value. It’s similar to streaming or fintech industries: having users is no longer enough if the experience is inconsistent.
The industry has matured significantly, and expectations have shifted from volume-driven growth to sustainable, data-driven partnerships built on trust, infrastructure, and long-term operational excellence. A tier one supplier today must be able to adapt quickly across jurisdictions, support operators commercially, and maintain stable performance under pressure.
Ahmed Baker: The definition has definitely evolved.
Five years ago, tier one status was largely about scale and distribution. The key indicators were how many operators you were integrated with, how many markets you were live in, and the size of your game portfolio.
Today, operators expect much more. Distribution remains important, but they’re increasingly evaluating suppliers on their ability to drive player engagement, support growth across multiple regulated markets, and deliver commercial value beyond content alone. Operators are now looking for suppliers that solve core business challenges, rather than simply delivering game after game.
A tier one supplier today is one that can consistently deliver results across regulated markets while acting as a strategic partner rather than just a content provider. The industry’s leading suppliers help companies acquire, engage and retain players, which has become a crucial distinction. In 2026, impact is the most important thing.
Daniel Kalinowski: The definition of tier one has evolved significantly. Scale and distribution remain important, but today it is equally about adaptability, localisation and the ability to grow sustainably across multiple regulated markets.
Suppliers are expected to understand the nuances of individual jurisdictions, respond quickly to player trends and work closely with operators to deliver content that resonates with local audiences.
At Blueprint, our expansion into markets such as Austria, South Africa and Switzerland demonstrates how tier one status is increasingly tied to international scalability and market expertise. The suppliers leading the industry today are those that can consistently deliver strong performance while remaining agile enough to meet changing player and operator expectations.
Do you believe technical infrastructure and scalability are now as important as content quality when competing at the highest level?
AB: Great content gets you through the door, but technical excellence is what keeps you there.
Operators expect seamless integrations, high uptime, rapid deployment across jurisdictions, strong reporting and the ability to scale without disruption. If a supplier can’t deliver that consistently, even the best content will struggle to reach its full potential.
This is where expectations have really changed over the last five to ten years, where operators are now looking for the quality of promotional products, back-end tools and product uptime, to really give them the tools to succeed.
I also believe AI is becoming an increasingly important part of this conversation. We’re already seeing suppliers invest heavily in AI, not only to improve operational efficiency, but also to accelerate development cycles, optimise testing, enhance analytics and increase output.
Successfully embedding AI into workflows enables suppliers to innovate faster, operate more efficiently and scale in ways that weren’t possible a few years ago.
At Incentive Games, we’ve seen firsthand how important this combination of product innovation and technical scalability has become. Whether it’s supporting large-scale free-to-play campaigns for leading operators or launching new real-money gaming products, brands expect suppliers to deliver both engaging content and enterprise-grade infrastructure.
The future leaders won’t just have the best games; they’ll have the best operating models.
DK: Absolutely. Great content will always be at the heart of success, but delivering it effectively across multiple markets and operator platforms requires equally strong technical foundations. As portfolios continue to expand and game mechanics become more sophisticated, suppliers need infrastructure that can support growing volumes of content while maintaining reliability, compliance and performance.
Blueprint releases games across a wide range of regulated jurisdictions, each with their own requirements and player preferences. Achieving that level of scale demands significant investment behind the scenes. Ultimately, content quality and technical infrastructure are no longer separate considerations; they work hand in hand, and both are essential for competing at the highest level.
BW: Great content may attract players, but infrastructure and relationships determine whether they stay. In 2026, operators expect suppliers to deliver not only engaging games but also flawless uptime, fast spin speeds, scalable architecture, and smooth integrations across multiple regulated markets. This mirrors what happened in industries like video streaming or e-commerce, where user experience became inseparable from backend performance.
At Playson, we see technical infrastructure and service readiness as a core part of product quality. If performance suffers on mobile devices or during traffic spikes, no great visuals or mechanics will make players stay. To stay in the leading positions, suppliers today must have enterprise-grade technology, ensuring stability, responsiveness, and adaptability regardless of market conditions or player volume.
Are operators becoming more selective in choosing long-term supplier partners, and if so, what qualities matter most in those decisions?
DK: The growing pressure for operators to deliver differentiated experiences to their players has undoubtedly led to a more selective approach. As a result, they are looking for partners that offer more than just a content catalogue. They want suppliers that understand their customer base, can provide proven performance and are willing to collaborate on tailored opportunities.
Our longstanding relationship with bet365 is a good example, spanning bespoke game launches and major promotional campaigns built around Blueprint content. Alongside trusted franchises such as Fishin’ Frenzy and Cash Strike, our portfolio of recognised brands, including The Flintstones, The Goonies, The Lost Boys and Game of Thrones, helps operators engage a broad spectrum of players while delivering strong commercial results.
BW: Operators are under more pressure than ever in fighting for players’ attention, and that is a battle that can’t be won alone. Beyond strong game performance, they now look for reliability, compliance readiness, fast market adaptation, and proactive commercial support.
In many ways, it resembles strategic partnerships in SaaS or retail ecosystems, where long-term scalability matters more than short-term launches. Operators want suppliers who understand their local markets, provide meaningful engagement tools, and can react quickly to regulatory changes.
At Playson, we see that trust, transparency, and operational stability have become just as important as content itself. Thus we work in a way where each aspect of cooperation is important. Beside acting upon feedback and evolving our game suite, we provide instruments to maintain constant interest among players, like promotional tools and bespoke network campaigns.
Our upcoming network promotion features a 25 000 000 EUR prize pool and ensures to make one player a winner each minute through the year. A combination of strong performing titles alongside constant retention creates an environment for nurturing loyalty to both operator and supplier brands.
AB: Without question. Most operators already have access to thousands of games, so the challenge isn’t finding content. The challenge is finding suppliers that genuinely move the needle.
We’re seeing operators place greater emphasis on differentiation, performance, ease of integration, compliance expertise, account management and the overall quality of the partnership.
The strongest supplier relationships today are strategic rather than transactional. Operators want partners that understand their objectives and can contribute directly to acquisition, engagement, retention and revenue growth.
That’s one of the reasons we’ve seen strong demand for our free-to-play products. Our partners want solutions that help them engage players across the entire customer journey rather than focusing solely on the point of wager. It’s stating the obvious, but retention is really important, and having a diverse array of products in a single portfolio helps drive that.
As competition intensifies across regulated markets, suppliers increasingly need to demonstrate commercial value, not just content volume.
Do emerging suppliers still have a realistic pathway to tier one status in 2026, or has the barrier to entry become significantly higher?
BW: The pathway still exists, but the barrier is undoubtedly higher than it was five years ago. Regulation, certification costs, infrastructure demands, and operator expectations have all increased substantially. However, we also see that development cycles are becoming faster, which creates opportunities for focused, agile companies with a clear identity.
Similar trends exist in gaming and entertainment industries generally. Niche brands can scale quickly if they deliver something genuinely differentiated. The challenge is sustainability. Reaching visibility is easier than maintaining operational excellence across multiple regulated markets.
AB: The barrier to entry is definitely higher. Compliance requirements, certifications, localisation and distribution all require significant investment. It’s far harder to launch and scale a supplier business today than it was a decade ago.
That said, I don’t think the door is closed.
In fact, AI could create one of the biggest opportunities we’ve seen for emerging suppliers. Smaller companies are often able to adopt new technologies and workflows much faster than larger organisations.
Historically, scale was a major advantage. Going forward, efficiency could become an equally important advantage. A smaller supplier that effectively leverages AI may be able to compete with businesses several times its size by doing more with less and moving significantly faster.
For the first time in a long while, I think we’re seeing efficiency becoming as important as scale, and AI is a tool that can help suppliers bridge that gap, which is only a positive for the industry.
DK: The pathway remains open, but the challenge is undoubtedly greater. Competition is intense, regulatory requirements continue to increase, and operators have access to more content than ever before.
Emerging suppliers need a clear vision, a well-defined roadmap and a content strategy backed by strong market research. Success is no longer about launching a handful of games and hoping they gain traction.
Suppliers must demonstrate consistent quality, reliability and an understanding of what players want across different markets. Those that can identify gaps in the market, build distinctive products and establish strong operator relationships still have every opportunity to reach tier one status.
Looking ahead, what do you think will define the industry’s leading suppliers over the next three to five years?
AB: If you’d asked this question five years ago, most people would have said content volume and distribution. I think the answer is very different today.
Operators don’t need more games, but they do need products that increase engagement, retention and lifetime value. It’s very much become value over volume.
AI has the potential to be one of the biggest disruptors our industry has seen. Suppliers that successfully integrate AI across development, analytics, testing, localisation and operations will have a significant competitive advantage.
It’s not a new insight, but data and personalisation will become increasingly important. We’ve had conversations as an industry for years about the growth of personalisation, and that won’t go away anytime soon. Operators will expect richer insights, smarter segmentation and more personalised player experiences.
The strongest suppliers won’t just offer games. They’ll provide broader engagement ecosystems that combine content, gamification, promotional tools and retention mechanics.
Finally, I think we’ll continue to see the diversification of content. The industry has historically been heavily centred around slots, but we’re seeing operators and players become increasingly receptive to alternative gaming formats.
At Incentive Studios, we’ve experienced this firsthand through the growth of our Crash and Arcade portfolio. A recent example is Red Light Green Light, our crash game developed in partnership with Light & Wonder. The interest we’ve seen in products like this demonstrates that operators are increasingly looking beyond traditional casino content and are actively seeking differentiated gaming experiences that can engage players in new ways.
While slots, live casino and table games will continue to dominate lobbies, I believe we’ll see continued growth in these formerly fringe categories as operators look to diversify their offering and create new revenue opportunities.
At the same time, Incentive Games continues to see strong demand for free-to-play products that help operators acquire, engage and retain players outside of the traditional wagering experience.
Ultimately, I think the future belongs to suppliers that help operators grow. Whether that’s through content, gamification, free-to-play engagement, AI-driven efficiency or entirely new gaming experiences, the most successful suppliers will be the ones creating measurable value rather than simply adding more games to a lobby.
DK: Player preferences evolve quickly, new markets continue to emerge and operators increasingly rely on data-driven decision-making, so suppliers must be able to respond rapidly without losing sight of quality.
Strong relationships with operators will remain crucial, as will the ability to build on proven successes while introducing fresh ideas. Blueprint sees significant value in evolving established franchises such as Kong, Fishin’ Frenzy and Cash Strike while continuing to explore new concepts and mechanics.
Equally important is investing in talent and retaining experienced teams, as great content and long-term growth are ultimately driven by the people behind it.
BW: The next generation of market leaders will be defined by adaptability. The industry is moving toward a model where content, infrastructure, compliance, and engagement ecosystems operate together rather than separately. Suppliers that succeed will be those capable of balancing innovation with stability across increasingly fragmented regulated markets. No doubt this will embrace the perfect balance of man and machine. The Human Touch with AI enhancement and scalability,
At Playson, we believe the future belongs to suppliers who can consistently deliver more measurable business value to operators while maintaining high production standards, technical reliability, and long-term player trust across global markets.
