The iGaming industry is well-known for its innovation. Every studio is pushing new ideas to stand out in online libraries, while operators want customers to know they can play the newest and hottest titles on the platform.
Although the innovation curve was slow at the start of the online casino journey, studios have begun to pick up the pace and introduce games that could not have easily existed on the casino floor.
But none of these ideas are ‘new’ – and that is the point. Players are familiar with the game's concepts, even if they are not used to wagering money on them. This can speed up the time it takes potential customers to try a product out.
What is the value of blending card games?
Learning a card game from one region and teaching it to others back home is nothing new. In fact, that is how most card games spread and evolved across Europe over the last millennia.
So when Pragmatic Play launched its new title Seotda Baccarat, it felt nostalgic for a time that (presumably) none of us were alive to experience: a new card game being introduced from another country.
But rather than expecting newcomers to learn the full set of Seotda rules, Pragmatic Play blended it with baccarat so that players already understand the core mechanics. The main difference is using cards from a 20-card Hwata deck, rather than a standard 52-card deck.
Sharon McHugh, Pragmatic Play Director of Public Relations, said: “Seotda Baccarat brings together two popular card games in a way that feels fresh and authentic.
“By combining the vibrant Hwatu deck with familiar baccarat betting mechanics, this release gives casinos a first-of-its-kind live casino experience designed to elevate their live lobbies.
“And, by the way, it’s pronounced soo-da!”
The combination appeals to Western players who feel comfortable enough with baccarat but want to try something new, while also catering to people who already know how to play the Korean card game and have not found a popular provider to play it through online.
Why companies are blending old video games
Another interesting way that studios have created new experiences is by leaning on nostalgic games from the Flash era. These early browser games were widely considered the ‘golden age’ of internet culture and dominated the scene from the late 1990s to the early 2010s.
These included the Helicopter Game, Frogger, Bloons and Crush the Castle. Although Minesweeper was not browser-based, it still became iconic as part of the standard Windows package from 1990 onwards, while Plinko rose to fame through The Price is Right in the 1980s.
All of this to say, when Mines, Plinko and Aviator hit the crash and arcade-style scene in the mid-2020s, the audience knew the gameplay immediately – and probably felt some nostalgia for them, too.
This meant that potential players already had a connection with the game before they had even played it for the first time. The only aspect that was new to them was wagering on the outcome, which, for most people, was not an issue because they were already on the iGaming platform looking to play online casino titles.
So many of the innovations discussed here have got clear ties back to pre-existing titles or mechanics, but there is an argument that familiarity is just as powerful as popularity
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this time was the large number of customers who signed up to online casino platforms for the first time just to play these arcade crash titles.
The effectiveness of blending modern classics
After five years of development and over $20m in investments, g.games revealed its latest game 99 Royale would be launching this September. The premise leans on the popular Battle Royale style of video games, such as Fortnite and PUBG, and translates the gameplay into slots.
Players choose a hero and join a matchmaking queue to compete against other players around the world. Each spin can create attacks that can knock out your opponents, and the higher your position at the end of it, the bigger the prize.
Although this is blending gambling with a mechanic, rather than a pre-existing game, the familiarity is still strong enough for people to recognise the formula. This is similar to the rise of fishing-shooting games that have proven popular in Asia that feature mechanics easily found in modern titles.
This marks yet more innovations in the gambling industry that can be directly traced back to the traditional video game industry.
How companies are building on pre-existing IPs
Finally, one of the easiest ways to create familiarity in a new title is simply to use an old or pre-existing one and let people experience them in a new way.
Slingo is famously a mixture of bingo and slot mechanics, but it offers an experience just different enough from both to feel like it is its own product. This title has also been credited as a powerful cross-selling method to introduce bingo players to online casino titles and mechanisms.
There has also been a resurgence in online slots based on TV and films, notably the Game of Thrones slot by Blueprint, which has proven to be a popular title with Millennial audiences. This creates a selling point and acquisition tool for players who may not have tried slot games before, but like the series, so are willing to try the experience out.
Can innovative titles only succeed if they are based on popular mechanics?
This is the million-dollar question and probably keeps several marketing teams around the world awake at night. So many of the innovations discussed here have got clear ties back to pre-existing titles or mechanics, but there is an argument that familiarity is just as powerful as popularity.
If only the popular ideas were recycled, then the gambling industry would surely cannibalise itself, much like an LLM model that has no more original content to scalp and regurgitate. And, of course, the endless Big Bass clones and Aviator clones do prove that this is sometimes a viable strategy.
But the gameplay tied to Aviator and Mines fell out of popularity in the mid-2000s as video games continued to evolve and become more complicated. In fact, there is a solid chance that the vast majority of Mines fans had not touched Minesweeper for at least a decade before it was resuscitated as an iGaming title. Yet they connected with players instantly.
There are countless nostalgic or familiar opportunities that could be translated into new experiences, whether they are well-known card games blended with lesser-known ones, video game mechanics or even just the artwork used in the title.