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Europe 2017Video Coverage

Anton Gauffin: Succeeding with Social Casino | Casual Connect Video

May 10, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

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Anton Gauffin is CEO of Huuuge Games

Are you interested in the social casino space in the game industry? Do you want to know what it takes to succeed in this market? If so, you want to listen to Anton Gauffin, CEO of Huuuge Games.

Anton Gauffin founded his first mobile game company, Gamelion, at the beginning of the mobile games era in 2002. In 2007 he sold the company, but in 2014 had the opportunity to buy it back and didn’t hesitate for an instant. Anton renamed it Huuuge and changed focus to social casino where he knew there was a lot of room to innovate.

At Casual Connect Europe, Anton, participated in a discussion of the latest topics in the social casino industry. You won’t want to miss this insights from this CEO of the fastest growing social casino company of 2016 who claims, “We just need more players playing social casino games.” Be sure to watch the video of the session to see the interview by Adi Hanin of Playtika.

For more about Anton’s insights and career, see this article.

EventsIndustry

Casual Connect Asia to Host Major Players in Social Gaming

April 18, 2017 — by Gamesauce Staff

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Some of social gaming’s major players will be on hand at Casual Connect Asia this May to discuss success, failure, and the industry at large. Executives from PlayStudios Asia, KamaGames, Huuuge Games, Murka, and more will speak on topics ranging from social casino content to skill-based tournaments.

At a glance

The Social Gaming track takes place on Day 2 of the conference and will kick off with a fireside chat with KamaGames. Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer of KamaGames Daniel Kashti will discuss the social casino industry at large and KamaGames’ strategy within that – as well as discuss the influence of genres such as MMOs and RPGs on the social casino ecosystem and the introduction of meta-games designed to attract the mainstream gamer.

Speakers such as Murka VP of Strategy Mark Beck and Huuuge Games Chairman Wibe Wagemans will discuss innovation and user acquisition in social casino while GameDesire VP Maciej Mroz will talk about different approaches to revenue for free-to-play (F2P) games. PlayStudios Asia Managing Director John Lin will discuss the APAC social games market and whether it is worth diving into for companies.

EventsIndustryNews

GiGse 2017 Looks Toward Next Generation in Casino Gaming

April 17, 2017 — by Gamesauce Staff

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When GiGse 2017 touches down in San Diego later this April, it will be with an unflinching eye toward the future. While there will be a variety of topics discussed at the conference – virtual reality, social casino, skill-based games, esports, mobile integration, and more – all of it will focus around the next generation of casino gaming: The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Europe 2017Video Coverage

Guy Hasson and the Math Behind the Success of Social Slots | Casual Connect Video

March 19, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

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Guy Hasson is Social Gaming Consultant of Old Man Productions, specializing in game popularity

What makes a social slots game attractive to users? What are the factors that increase the chances of succeeding in this genre? Can the profitability of the game be improved? If these are questions that are important to your business, you can’t do better than to listen to advice from Guy Hasson, social gaming consultant of Old Man Productions.

While working at Playtech, Guy learned everything there is to know about how to create a good slot game. At Playtika their emphasis was on analyzing how to create the most popular games. And as a consultant, Guy can show you the important factors that can help a slots game succeed. You can discover how to tremendously improve the average revenue per user, to increase the time the user will spend on machine and to boost the number of coins the user will bet, all important measures of the game’s success. At Casual Connect Europe, Guy’s session demonstrated the mathematical model that can lead to these results. One point that Guy emphasized was “Rate of Exhaustion (ROE) represents the game experience, RTP doesn’t. If you leave here today with one thing: RTP doesn’t matter. RTP is passé.” To learn more, watch this video of the full session.

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For more about Guy Hasson, see this exclusive article.

ContributionsIndustry

Monetising Social - How Free Games Can Mean Big Business

February 25, 2017 — by Industry Contributions

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By Ian Jones

Social gaming has been one of many fundamental shifts in online gambling in the last few years. Online casino operators in particular were quick to move on opportunities in social gaming, and the result was a new, pseudo-gambling form of gaming, where players could compete against friends within their online social networks, or just against other players more broadly in the style of arcade gaming. These games traditionally differed from gambling insofar as they didn’t pay any monetary return, leading some to question whether these games could really be described as gambling at all.

Game developers found workarounds, allowing players to pay for in-game advantage, or for extra chances to compete against their peers. But now, some operators are taking the business model to a whole new level, with alternative streams of revenue being generated in the process. But to what extent could this shape the social gaming environment in the months and years ahead?

Tel Aviv 2016Video Coverage

Key Insights into the State of the Social Casino Industry from Elad Kushnir | Casual Connect Video

January 7, 2017 — by Catherine Quinton

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Elad Kushnir, Playtika
Elad Kushnir

What are the latest developments in the social casino industry? And what do they mean for your business and future plans? There is no one better to answer these questions than Elad Kushnir, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Playtika which delivers premium games to more than six million daily active users and twenty million monthly active users.

Elad is responsible for all M&A activity and also heads up strategic partnerships and spearheads regional growth opportunities in new market areas. At Casual Connect Tel Aviv, they provided the most recent information, from the second and third quarters of 2016, on the social casino industry. They also offered key insights into what this data means for the future of the industry. To learn more, be sure to watch the video of the full session.

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For more about Elad Kushnir, see this exclusive article.

Tel Aviv 2016Video Coverage

Darion Lowenstein: Casinos, The New Gold Rush For Developers? | Casual Connect Video

January 4, 2017 — by Orchid

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Casinos have been fighting an age crisis: 21-45 year olds generally do not gamble, admits Darion Lowenstein, CMO of Gamblit Gaming. They currently oversee marketing and publishing efforts for the company’s arcade style real money games for mobile and its upcoming hardware launch in casinos. A 20-year industry veteran, Darion has produced/directed some of the biggest video games in the industry at companies like Electronic Arts, Activision, Rockstar Games and Scopely.

Darion presenting at Casual Connect Tel Aviv 2016

Now, with Gamblit, Darion is leading the charge to bring mobile and arcade style games onto the floor with products that appeal to those 21-45 year olds. With announcements like Jetpack Joyride, Into The Dead, and Catapult King, at Casual Connect Tel Aviv Darion Lowenstein discussed the benefits and difficulties of taking hit mobile games into the casino world. “I think that partner content is a better offering for customers on the floor than licensed content, when you take a movie franchise, James Bond, Brides Maids, and slap it on the slot machine”, Darion explains.

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Read more about Darion and their approaches here.

BusinessExclusive Interviews

How FlowPlay Built a Social Sports Wagering Dynasty

December 31, 2016 — by David Radd

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FlowPlay has launched Dynasty Football, an online fantasy football strategy card game. Designed to appeal to both fans of collectible card games and fantasy football enthusiasts, this unique game blends the real-world player stats of fantasy football with the excitement of head-to-head card battles.

“Collectible card games have become increasingly popular over the last two years, and we saw an opportunity to bring our expertise in casual fantasy sports games to this growing market,” said Derrick Morton, CEO of FlowPlay. “We’re one of the first to introduce sports elements into the digital card games genre, allowing us to expand the appeal of Dynasty Football to the broader audience of 60 percent of the U.S. population that considers themselves sports fans, according to Gallup.”

Tel Aviv 2016Video Coverage

Patrick Witham: Bringing Sanity to UA | Casual Connect Video

December 23, 2016 — by David Radd

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At Product Madness, we think of user acquisition as an investment. - Patrick Witham, UA DirectorClick To Tweet

At Casual Connect Tel Aviv, Product Madness UA Director Patrick Witham provided insights on how the Top-15 social casino company tackles user acquisition. “At Product Madness, we think of user acquisition as an investment.” Patrick broke down where the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer goes in this investment, noting that up to 30 percent may go toward platform fees, 15 percent may go toward operating expenses, the actual investment in UA and CPI could make up to 25 percent of a user’s LTV, and the remaining amount – up to 30 percent – is actual profit. Patrick noted that the return on investment does not come until farther down the road – sometimes anywhere from 3 months to 12 months or more. For more UA insights and tips, check out the video below.

ContributionsIndustry

Should Social Casinos Be Regulated Like Real Money Online Casinos?

December 19, 2016 — by Industry Contributions

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By Brian Hemmings

Social gaming has been an interesting innovation for the gambling industry, with many gambling operators finding profitable sidelines in social games. Operating in a similar way to real money online casinos, they offer a variety of games for players to participate in, generally with some social reward or points tally in return for successful gameplay.

mobile-casinoUnlike online casinos, social games differ in a number of key ways. They don’t tend to offer a straight financial reward, like you’d expect from winning a blackjack hand. But they do still often accept deposits from players, and use this to fund play which translates into social awards. These games are money spinners for social casino operators, and are proving increasingly popular with certain player demographics.

As an innovative twist on the established online gambling model, there are invariably questions about how this should be interpreted legally. Should these social games, which still take payment from players, be considered as gambling, and regulated accordingly? Or are they better regulated as non-gambling games?

With the rise of social gaming, the Gambling Commission looked into this issue, publishing a white paper on social gaming in 2015. It identified three potential risks from social gaming - Problem Gambling (i.e. individuals spending too much money on these games), Transitional Risks (i.e. increased likelihood of participation by young people in real money gambling) and Consumer Risks (i.e. scams through social gaming platforms). Let’s tackle each of these in turn, and see whether the same regulation as applies to gambling may be required for social gaming.

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