Betsoft is one of those gaming studios that provides its players with innovative slots, as well as unique promo tools and mystery drops. This award-winning company specialises in creating 3D online slots, making a significant impact on the iGaming industry.
Renata Banyar, CMO at Betsoft Gaming, participated in SlotsWise's exclusive interview series and gave our readers an insight into the studio's history, games, as well as upcoming releases. We also talked about Betsoft's brilliant Take The Prize tool and its game development approach.
So, if you want to discover Betsoft's secrets of developing high-quality games and promotions, check our interview below! And take a sneak peek into the company's upcoming titles...
Hi Renata and welcome to SlotsWise! We're glad to have you in our interview series with gaming studios. Before we begin, could you introduce yourself and Betsoft to our readers?
"Thank you for this opportunity. As the CMO at Betsoft Gaming, my key responsibility is to devise and implement the marketing strategy to drive business. My team and I work across the marketing spectrum. We deliver sales collateral and all media content; promotions; new product launches; campaigns; industry events, conferences; and anything else that carries our brand.
Betsoft Gaming is known for its innovative approach to slots, honed over sixteen years in the iGaming industry. We have an award-winning portfolio of 200+ titles offering feature-rich and immersive play.
From hugely popular series to sequels including Return to Paris™ and Lost Mystery Chests™, we design immersive content that is known for big bets wagered and time spent playing. Our genres cover crime capers, dark magic and animal-themed adventures, gods, dinosaurs, Vikings, time travel, jungles and more. Add in our hugely engaging mechanics, features, bonus rounds, multipliers and a proven maths model and it is clear why our portfolio is so instantly engaging.
A commitment to translation and localisation of smash hits has reinforced brand awareness across many regulated jurisdictions, plus the opening up of newly regulated Holland and Belgium has further exposed the Betsoft brand.
We are certified by the Malta Gaming Authority, Romania and the Danish Gambling Authority as well as in Italy and Spain plus Betsoft is also licenced across multiple jurisdictions including LATAM and Africa.
Tech-wise, we offer 99.98% uptime across global casino brands. All our releases are mobile-friendly with quick loading times and lightweight deployment. Of course, the games are compatible across platforms and devices and there is no loss of quality in our imagery on mobile play either. All Betsoft games are verified by all leading certification houses including GLI and iTech Labs."
What is your approach to game development? How much time does it take from idea to release to make a new game at Betsoft?
"We usually start with the theme or narrative and are renowned for story-driven slots. Using research, feedback and imagination, a number of storylines are pitched. Those that are accepted have features and mechanics built-in to create a game that plays out sequentially. The magic is made between the design studio and the mathematicians. It is then our job to promote them.
We normally work around six months ahead, with the Roadmap issued two months before the game release. We also 100% guarantee our Roadmap and offer one month’s exclusivity to specific clients to help build awareness and generate traffic."
How many games are in Betsoft’s library? How many games are being released per month/year?
"Currently, we have in excess of 200 + releases in the portfolio. From its inception, Betsoft has always believed in quality not quantity in the creation of video slots. We release one to two slots per month maximum and do not plan to change this.
Your games are filled with innovative features such as wilds, free spins and prize wheels. How do you decide which features to add to the games?
It’s a combination of experience, research and creativity. We always strive to create well-balanced games using mix of features that are popular. We are innovative and we look both to develop existing successful features and to design new features.
Each and every feature we build into the slot must support the narrative and enable the game to progress. The features must also deliver – whether it is to trigger free spins or open a second screen, they are integral to the overall slot. The slots are telling a structured story with each feature creating excitement and potential wins."
You recently released Book of Helios™. What are the main features and why did you use these in this release?
"Book of Helios™ is a 5 reel, 10 fixed paylines release. It offers players a unique expanding symbol feature, free spins, multiplying multipliers, the Betsoft Buy-in and a substantial 20,168x max bet payout potential.
The narrative is that Greek sun-god Helios and intrepid adventuress Olivia Brave are working together to find the book to release Helios from his night-time prison.
Mixing Greek mythology, magic and treasure-hunting adventures, Book of Helios™ is packed with our signature graphics and ancient Greek imagery as well as some great features.
The magical Book is the Scatter AND the Wild so the game's free spins feature will be triggered when the scatter symbol is randomly added to reels 2, 3, and 4.
On triggering the bonus round, players are awarded 10 Free Spins, and one paying symbol randomly becomes a Special Expanding Symbol for the duration of the feature. If the chosen symbol is present on two or more reels and can form a win, each symbol will expand vertically to cover the entire reel. A symbol with only 2x minimum payout needs only two symbols on the reels to trigger the Special Expanding Symbol Feature.
At the same time, if any Books are available on the reels, they will expand vertically to cover their entire reel AND reveal a Multiplier up to 5x. As the Wild, the Book Multipliers have their own Multipliers, meaning wins of up to 125x the stake (5x5x5) are possible!
With a hit rate in free spins of 51.73% and an RTP of 95.58%, the win potential is substantial.
Our players have been asking for higher volatility slots from us and both Book and Greek themes are hugely popular across multiple players' bases and demographics. Book of Helios™ is a universally aimed slot and initial feedback is very encouraging."
The anime release Kensei Blades ™ is a change of style for you: what can players expect from this game?
"Kensei Blades™ is a beautiful, evocative slot offering a staggering 720 ways to win both ways. The anime theme is experimental for us but the game is already receiving rave reviews. Long-term clients will recall our 2018 release, Tiger’s Claw™, which uses the same payline model.
Set across an original 3-4-5-4-3 grid, big payouts can occur with three or more correctly positioned and matching symbols. The high-paying Crossed Swords symbol gives Free Spins and Instant Prizes for example. Up to 96 free spins can be won in a single win and, as Free Spins can be retriggered in the free spins rounds, a potential 240 free spins are available in any one bonus game. It’s a big hit unsurprisingly."
Another game that caught our players’ attention was Primal Wilderness™, thanks to its all-ways pay system and the free spins feature. What inspired you to create this slot?
"Primal Wilderness™ mixes conventional and original gameplay to great effect. The mathematics is balanced but the variance keeps players coming back for more: once the features are triggered, a whole new world of winning opportunities opens up. We set out to create a simple game with a visual theme that was both less common to the market and one we had not previously explored.
The visual inspiration came from the now extinct European brown bear that roamed British forests some 1,500 years ago. Player feedback has been hugely positive and Primal Wilderness ™has been present in our Top Ten games since release."
What Betsoft product makes you most proud?
"It is hard to choose one as the team has performed on many separate fronts with new product development.
From our 12 Days of Giving charity initiative over Christmas - where we directly engaged with and contributed to charitable causes across Malta - to our enhanced social media presence and brand-building campaigns, we have consistently created and delivered with each new initiative and product.
We also released Take the Prize™ - our first in-game promo tool earlier this year. It significantly adds to the overall player experience with enhanced gamification and additional wins. Take the Prize™ offers a random fortune wheel with cash prizes or bonuses in qualifying games throughout any promotion and it does it without interrupting gameplay or affecting RTP.
Based on this new tool, we have been able to deliver a fantastic, ten-day, “Take the Prize™ Mystery Drops” promotion to a significant number of our casino clients. Players choose one of 27 titles from Betsoft’s award-winning portfolio and are instantly in line for immersive play, big wins and the best gamification tools.
Additionally, we relaunched our Client Area to improve the client journey to access the assets they need and we are currently working on a new website design to be launched in July. So overall, there are many products we are all proud of, but the teamwork that guarantees their success is the most important."
Could you share some insider info with us, what else can we expect from Betsoft for the rest of 2022?
"In terms of new games, we have several releases currently in production. Gemini Joker™ was released in May 2022 and this will be followed by Book of Helios™ at the end of June. Wilds of Fortune™ is due out in July and a new Red Dragon™ release, Winds of Wealth™, is ready for August. The Roadmap is also full for September onwards, but we will publicise those new titles next quarter.
Finally, Betsoft has a fantastic new game in the pipeline. This is quite a change of direction for us and to say we are excited is an understatement. I can’t tell you any more just yet, other than ‘watch this space'!"
Thank you, Renata, for sharing these details with us! We’re excited to see and try your new slot releases!
In the meantime, make sure to visit Betsoft Gaming and try their awesome slot titles that are already available to play.