Kalamba Games was founded in 2016, but I’m curious about your motivation
My co-founder Alex Cohen and I concluded that there was a market need for a content creator who could incorporate the most beneficial aspects of social gaming into real money gaming after gaining significant experience in both the real money gaming industry and the social gaming industry. This was the driving force behind the formation of our company, which bears our names. We felt compelled to create something new and distinct from the other casino content producers already operating in the market.
What have been the most difficult obstacles for you to overcome since you first started?
Up to this point, the most difficult challenges have been expanding our distribution, establishing long-term traction with operators, ensuring that we can compete commercially while still meeting certain margin targets, and, finally, locating the most qualified individuals in their field to join Kalamba at the right time.
In what ways does your social gaming experience influence what you do?
When we look back at how gaming as a whole has evolved, we can see conceptual convergence pretty much everywhere. For example, treasure boxes in so-called “traditional” AAA video game titles, role-playing or character development features in games without open worlds, and so on. As a result, we believe that two closely related gaming subgenres should share some key characteristics. This should be the case at the very least in terms of user experience (UX), but it should also be the case in terms of in-game features and the ideas that drive them.
The most important thing we can do, however, is to ensure that we innovate within the genre without interfering with the factors that contribute to the success of slot games.
How do you set yourself apart from the competition in your industry?
Even though we are not a large corporation, we have the knowledge of large corporations and a high rate of expansion. We are constantly striving to use insight to drive game development, which we believe is the key to both understanding player behavior and ensuring the success of our partners. Our goal is to create the most entertaining slot machines on the market, and our distribution partners have recently informed us that our games have significantly higher retention rates than average.
This demonstrates that our engagement strategy is working, and it can be viewed as a barometer of our overall success. When compared to many other slot games, the emphasis on interactive elements in our games gives them a higher level of complexity. When competing in an industry with so many other businesses, it is critical to differentiate yourself in some way.
There are numerous available spots. How do you set yourself apart from the rest of the pack?
First and foremost, we are a data-driven company, and when we design and develop our games, we keep our customer’s needs and preferences in mind. We value close collaboration with our partners to align our expectations about game design and to facilitate the exchange of information about player and game behaviors and performance. In addition to the math, we put a lot of effort into developing the concept.
As I previously stated, we must stand out from the crowd, but not at the expense of the elements required for a slot game to function properly. This can be challenging, but we prioritize players and give them the freedom to engage with games on their terms. Furthermore, we support a wide range of playing styles by offering features such as HyperBonus, HyperBet, and LuckyLoops, which are some of our distinguishing features.
Which of the new releases is your favorite, and why?
Recently, my favorite games have been Machina and Caribbean Anne. This is not to say that any other game published is not a favorite; it simply goes without saying. When I look back over the last two and a half years, what makes me most proud is that both the team and the games have continued to improve with each new release, even though we do not believe that the sky’s the limit. The most motivating factor for us at Kalamba would be to be able to see how much we have grown and improved as a company as a direct result of our efforts.
You are still a young company; what do you see for Kalamba’s future?
The last few months have been a very exciting time for the company, as we have recently introduced our new athletic identity and released amazing titles such as Caribbean Anne, all of which demonstrate the company’s ability. We intend to keep up that pace well into 2020, while also pushing the boundaries of creativity in the development of promotional tools and video games.
Tell me about a typical day in your life and what occurs
I spend roughly half of each week at our Malta headquarters and the other half at our Krakow, Poland development studio, assisting with operations in both locations. Working on the development of corporate strategy is a lot of fun for me because we are a multidisciplinary and multi-national team, but I also enjoy utilizing as much of my operational expertise as possible in my role as a product specialist.
Do you believe that significant advances in the gaming industry are likely in the future?
There are numerous interpretations of the term “innovation,” but in general, the casino industry has always lagged in terms of online innovation. There has been more activity in the sportsbook and poker sectors, but these products lend themselves better due to significantly greater scalability in-game mechanics, nuances, and flexibility.
Because of the more structured nature of the games, the casino is far more difficult, but the most important takeaway from this experience is that our customers require additional data- and AI-driven promotional and marketing tools to effectively engage their customers. This is where the vast majority of new ideas will come from over the next few years. Naturally, content providers will want to improve their games in some way, and new methods for operators to innovate or improve the overall experience they provide for their customers are constantly being developed.
Concerning the source of the subsequent “step change,” I believe you will notice an increasing number of casino content creators diversifying their product lines and investigating the possibility of including platforms and promotional tools as an integral part of their primary product line. What about the next significant change? What exactly is going on here? As a result, there is a lot of excitement in the industry.