Industry News
KamaGames’ End of Year Results Show Continued Significant Growth For Third Consecutive Year
KamaGames, the largest European social mobile poker operator, has today announced their 2018 end of year results.
In these latest results reflecting the 1st January – 31st December 2018 period, each quarter showed strong growth for KamaGames in comparison to the same period in 2017. This continued growth has led to gross revenue increasing by a total of 33% since 2017, growing from $57.5m to $76.4m.
KamaGames’ results are once again ahead of the overall social casino market trend as reported in the latest social casino rankings from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming. This report indicates an overall market growth of just 15% for 2018, less than half of the actual 33% growth experienced by KamaGames.
The number of DAUs of KamaGames’ titles also saw strong growth of 23.5% from 510k in 2017 to 630k in 2018.
These results mark the third consecutive year of significant growth in revenue for the company.
KamaGames attributes their continued success to a number of key executions and dedicated areas of focus which included;
- Personalized promotional campaigns for players which have resulted in the number of paying users, as well as the average revenue per paying user (ARPPU), increasing in 2018
- In June 2018, KamaGames began exclusive monetization through Unity Ads allowing the company to provide in-app rewarded video advertising across their entire gaming portfolio via the Unity Ads platform. This move boosted advertising earnings by 81% when comparing year on year
- A dedicated area of focus for KamaGames throughout 2018 was to improve player retention and session time. This was achieved by the daily engagement of players via the introduction of special event cycles, new mechanics and a number of new games being introduced throughout the year
- New additions to the KamaGames portfolio in 2018 included the launch of an all new Slots game featuring a variety of themed slots machines. The first half of 2018 also saw the launch of Set Poker, which was then followed by Split Bet Poker.
In the latter half of 2018, KamaGames also introduced another new game, 3D Craps. The introduction of Craps was a key element in enhancing the social experience for Pokerist users, which is an ongoing area of focus for the operator
- Finally, one of the most well received additions to the KamaGames portfolio in 2018 was the launch of Multi-Table Tournaments (MTT). As one of the most popular mechanics in real-money casinos, KamaGames was confident that the feature would have a similar effect on social casino players, which ultimately proved to be true as MTTs have now become a core part of users’ daily activity
Even after another year of strong results, KamaGames’ CEO Andrey Kuznetsov reveals that the company will not be complacent in the coming year as they have their eyes set on further growth. He says, “Throughout 2019 KamaGames will build on this impressive growth, which we are proud to report was double the growth of the overall market in 2018, by continuing to grow our social casino portfolio as well as entering new markets with regionally popular card games. We are also looking forward to being able to make a number of key partnership announcements with some well-known global brands through the year. 2019 is going to be another very exciting year for KamaGames”.
Kuznetsov continued, “App Annie predicts that, by the end of 2019, mobile gaming will continue to grow and reach 60% market share of consumer game spending. KamaGames will be a significant part of this growth and are committed to further improved user retention and engagement in our gaming portfolio but the continued creation of quality, innovative content, the personalization of game events and the increased socialization between players.
For more information on KamaGames and its portfolio of products visit www.KamaGames.com.
For more information, contact
Sam Forrest
Director of Global Communications & Content
KamaGames
About KamaGames:
KamaGames is the largest European social mobile poker publisher and developer, with over 630,000 daily active users. Established in 2010 and employing over 250 staff, KamaGames has its corporate headquarters in Dublin, Ireland as well as offices in London and Dubai.
The flagship title, Pokerist, has been the #1 grossing app in 101 countries on the App Store and one of the top 5 grossing apps in 45 countries on Google Play.
In 2017, our gross revenue increased by 63.4% year on year to $57.5 million compared to $35.2 million in 2016. The number of daily active users grew by 36% with the average revenue per paying user growing by 30% in the same period. 2018 saw gross revenue increase from $57.5m to $76.4m.
Industry News
Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal
With Bitblox introducing an entirely new breed of crypto-based price prediction games to the iGaming industry, we talked to CEO, Brandt Page, to discover how combining elements of both chance and skill with lightning-fast betting rounds has helped improve their cross-market appeal.
When Bitblox was first established, our core concept was relatively simple; we didn’t just want to provide players with a new twist on an existing format like slots or casino games, but instead sought to create an entirely new vertical that combined elements of chance and elements of skill.
One of the main drivers behind this decision was the fact that we wanted our releases to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – and I think from the figures we’ve seen so far, we’ve already had some notable success on that front in terms of the players that are engaging with our games.
Funnily enough, I was recently talking to the Head of Marketing from one of the operators that we work with and they told me they were struggling to place our games optimally. Initially, they’d put them in with crash and instant win content, but they soon discovered a lot of their in-game traffic was coming from sports bettors. A move to the sports betting tab followed, but the exact same-thing happened with casino players, leading to the games eventually winding up on the front page.
As this was going on, our games were continuing to post solid numbers with the customers who bet on both sports and casino – and all of this engagement was coming without there being any additional promotion from us or the operator. So why was it that our games were performing so well across these different player segments? I believe there are a number of contributing factors.
First and foremost, having this hybrid model of games of chance and games of skill that I’ve already mentioned has placed us in a fairly unique position within the iGaming industry. On the one hand, the simple premise of our Bitcoin-based titles – coupled with their attractive designs and intuitive UI – makes them highly accessible to casino players who are just looking to have fun.
On the other, the fact that Bitblox games aren’t based on RNG and are instead pinned to the real-time movements of the Bitcoin market certainly resonates with a sports betting audience. As they have the ability to follow the charts and use this information to inform their decisions, they definitely feel they have more control over the outcome than if they were playing a traditional slot.
Another key aspect of our cross-market appeal is the fast-paced nature of all Bitblox releases. With casino players being accustomed to the quick wins and instant gratification of slots and crash games and sports bettors also showing a growing preference for in-play wagering, we’ve ensured each game round is resolved quickly and that there are multiple opportunities for betting.
When we first launched Up or Down?, which features one-minute betting rounds, we soon learned that even this timeframe is too long for some players. This resulted in us developing Up or Down? Turbo – a game which kept the same mechanics as its predecessor but reduced the betting window to 20 seconds – and this has gone on to become one of our most successful titles.
Keeping all this in mind, one of the things I’m most excited about is the upcoming release of our latest game, 3 in a Row, as I think this is a title that really ties everything I’ve talked about so far together. Designed to look like a slot machine, 3 in a Row challenges players to correctly predict how the Bitcoin price will move over three separate 20-second windows for even bigger payouts.
Intended to appeal to casual users and serious sports bettors alike, players can elect to either spin the reels for fun and select a random price sequence or use the bet builder feature to put together their own custom prediction. With the latter essentially functioning like an accumulator bet, players can select up to three possible combinations – i.e. Up/Up/Up, Up/Up/Down etc – and only one result needs to land for them to win, ensuring they stay engaged until the final seconds.
I believe that 3 in a Row can help build on the strong foundations we’ve laid down with casino and sports bettors and provide operators with another popular option that offers significant cross-market appeal. Based on what we’ve seen from previous Bitblox releases, the audience for titles that combine elements of chance and elements of skill is definitely out there – and I’m looking forward to our unique brand of crypto-based games being enjoyed by even more players in future.
Industry News
Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal
In-demand content provider extends reach into largest iGaming market in the world with its full suite of games made available via iLottery aggregation platform
Gaming Corps, a publicly-listed game studio based in Sweden renowned for creating industry-leading games, has made its debut in the US market through a breakthrough agreement with leading lottery provider, EQL Games.
The distribution agreement will see Gaming Corps’ full suite of games made available to EQL Games’ powerful iLottery Aggregation Platform, developed to provide lottery operators across America with direct access to a portfolio of proprietary and third-party games.
Following the integration, EQL Games’ lottery operator partners will be offered proven Slots, Table Games, Multiplier Games, Mine Games and Plinko Games, as well as titles under Gaming Corps’ innovative and trademarked Smash4Cash™ series.
The deal and integration come at a time of growing demand among online lottery operators in the US for non-traditional content, a format that Gaming Corps has excelled in, especially with its Smash4Cash™ games, which have been a hit with players in global markets.
EQL’s aggregation platform has been developed to allow online lottery operators to quickly and easily access content from multiple game studios simultaneously through one integration and one commercial agreement.
Its iLottery Aggregation platform simplifies the process of adding new games to an online lottery brand across regulated states. In addition to the third-party content provided via its aggregator platform, EQL Games has a portfolio of in-house titles.
This includes games produced under licence with Team USA which were rolled out by several state lotteries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year, with new titles being planned ahead of the Winter Games in Milan (2026) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles (2028).
Juha Kauppinen, CEO of Gaming Corps, said: “The USA has always been somewhat of the holy grail for game developers like us, which has been further emphasised as markets in several states have become regulated. The potential in the American market is enormous, and the impact for us is a bit difficult to assess, but we have great hopes for the collaboration with EQL Games, which has an impressive platform towards U.S. lotteries.
“We believe it will have a significantly positive impact on our revenues. I would like to personally take the opportunity to thank EQL Games and Brad Cummings for the collaboration, and we are now working hard to complete the integration so that all our games will be offered to EQL’s customers via their platform.”
Brad Cummings, CEO of EQL Games, added: “Including Gaming Corps as a supplier to the EQL Games iLottery Aggregator is an exciting step forward in our mission to offer unique, high-quality content to state lotteries. Gaming Corps’ expertise in iGaming, along with their unique game portfolio, fits perfectly with our vision of enhancing the lottery experience through dynamic and engaging content.”
Industry News
Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0
The highly anticipated Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0 has officially entered the public voting phase as submissions are closed.
More than 70 game providers have turned in over 160 submissions, including Tom Horn Gaming, Pragmatic Play and RubyPlay. Public voting involves enthusiasts casting their votes to pick the winner of the Game of Public Choice category.
The Public voting phase ends on December 1st 23:59 GMT+4.
Concurrent to public voting, the first phase of private voting also starts during which all participants who have submitted entries get the chance to vote for one favourite in each category. An international auditing company oversees this phase to eliminate duplicate votes and self-votes. This phase ends on November 19, 23:59 GMT+4.
The second phase of private voting will also take place with a jury of industry experts making their decisions based on the shortlist picked by participants during the first phase.
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