The Role of Software Providers in Shaping Online Casino Games

Author: Matthew Haynes

There is no doubt about the fact that online casinos are some of the biggest forms of entertainment, with the industry worth hundreds of millions.

An important role in the online gambling industry is filled by software providers and, unbeknown to many players, these are effectively responsible for the huge number of games that online casinos offer.

Over the last two decades, the number of software providers in the online gambling industry has sky-rocketed, with many new ones being established on an almost yearly basis. It has also meant that game production has increased considerably, and deals between software developers and casinos are more than constanly evolving.

With the online gambling industry becoming increasingly popular, with the opening up and expansion of new markets, in addition to a continuing rise in the number of online slot games that are being developed, it means that customers now have more choice than ever before.

It is something that operators have noticed as well. In an attempt to make sure that they are able to attract and also retain customers, online gambling companies have recognized the importance of ensuring that their websites are well-equipped for customers.

Content plays a very important role when it comes to gambling companies being able to differentiate themselves from each other. Operators have learned to partner with the right software providers which they know will be popular with their current players, based on the analytics that they have.

As a result online casinos understand what their players want, from penny slots to video slots, from RNG table games to live dealer game. Operators are aware that certain software providers only develop specific type of games, or indeed, have carved a reputation for doing this, and it has reflected in their analytics.

Analytics and Business Intelligence of Online Casinos

There are a number of factors that come into play when online casinos decide what content to use.

If it is a new casino, then they are quite limited in terms of knowing what is potential customers may want and as a result, this might be more in line with its branding and choosing games that are relevant with this.

More established online casinos adopt a more data-led strategy, having knowledge of what their customers spend time playing the most and understanding which products draw them in.

Most major online casinos now have a data analytics department, most commonly associated with BI (Business Intelligence). This has become highly important in the industry because it is vital for comprehending play behavior and as a result, can have a say on what type of content casinos choose in the future.

How the content comes across on a player’s preferred device also has a bearing on the decision-making process for an online casino, because they know that user experience (UX) is a big part of shaping the influence of a customer’s desire to carry on playing.

How Software Providers Attract and Retain Players?

Every online casino wants to work with the best software providers when it comes to their slots and games portfolio, because they know that this can have a significant difference on how many customers that it attracts on a continual basis.

Major companies such as Playtech, NetEnt and Microgaming are often in high demand - most online casinos have games from these iGaming titans.

However, over the last decade, we have seen considerable growth in this niche, following the establishment of many other boutique providers that focus on a particular area of online slots.

This can work in an online casino’s favor, especially if it knows that it has a certain segment of its fanbase that has a leaning towards one theme of online casino games.

Some of these ‘boutique’ software providers have started to gain a reputation for themselves over the last couple of years because online casinos have realized just how popular the providers’ products are with their customers. As a result, this is where the better online casinos have been able to differentiate from their competition.

More increasingly, over the last few years, a lot of online casinos have been in favor of something new as a way of trying to stay fresh and current in the marketplace. However, this can also represent somewhat of a risk.

Although it might sound exciting for an online casino to be listing slots and games from a new software provider, this can backfire if their current players do not like the content. This can also potentially give their customers the realisation that the casino might be moving in a different direction, in terms of their brand and product offering and, as a result, completely alienate them.

Ultimately, though, it is a careful balancing act. New content is important for online casinos because this makes sure that they can continue to both attract new and retain existing customers. However, if a casino site upgrades itself with a lot of content (especially the wrong type) at once, this can be overwhelming for a lot of players.

Internet Ranking and Role of Content Frequency

Certainly, many people will not be aware of the importance of this and the effect that it can have. Search engines such as Google, rank websites based on a number of factors; one of them being how much content that a site uploads over a certain period of time.

Of course, most major online casinos upgrade daily, with things such as promotional material, while some even have a blog, and this can contribute towards, at least, retaining their position in the search engine rankings.

However, uploading new slot and game content on a daily basis is unrealistic for even the best performing online casinos. This can be for a number of reasons, relating to, quite simply the time that it takes to do this - integrating new online casino games and making sure that they function properly can be quite a challenge.

This though, also has its intricacies. Google likes websites that upload purposeful content that is of use to a particular audience and will rank the relevant web page accordingly. So, it can be a risk for online casinos to flood their websites with multiple slots at once on a continual basis. Google may not look favorably upon that.

Strategies Used by Software Providers

When it comes to new content for online casinos, it isn’t just the brands themselves that have a say in this. Effectively, this is driven by supply from software providers.

Every software provider understands that new content is essential for online casinos to not only function but continue to thrive and maintain popularity with their customer base.

Often, it is the case that each software provider will have a schedule for each year, divided by month when it comes to the development and expected release of any new games that it has planned, with some of the biggest having the capabilities to mass produce.

Smaller software providers usually have to be a lot more selective and formulaic when it comes to their strategy. Of course, they know how important it is to get it right because they cannot compete with their more established counterparts. However, they also understand how important new content is for online casinos and, due to being smaller in size, they can have new content produced and released a lot quicker, because often, decisions do not take as long to make.

The Future of Online Casino Content

Even over the last couple of years, following the global pandemic, we have seen an explosion in the number of online casinos that are now available - particularly across several markets.

However, this also provides opportunities as far as content provision goes, with the potential for new types of slots and games to be released. Already, we have seen gamification in online casinos as a way of offering players something different - even interactive.

It could also, essentially mean that we see a new breed of software provider to cater for new online casinos that are perhaps aiming to be more innovative. The narrative will likely remain the same for the next year at least - software providers will continue to keep developing slot content for online casinos, with nothing too radical and online casinos will make sure that their players are well catered for.

However, what is for sure is that online casinos are here to stay and as the industry continues to grow, new strategies will become crucial from a customer acquisition and retention perspective.