Taking the SlotsWise stage, this week we have Simon Hammon, Chief Product Officer at Relax Gaming, one of the most successful and exciting providers in the iGaming industry! We discuss future slot games, drawing inspiration, game features, and more!
Take a sneak-peek into Relax Gaming’s brand journey and their secret of creating such top-notch releases…
Hi, Simon! Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. Before we begin, could you introduce yourself and Relax Gaming to our readers?
“I have been at Relax Gaming as the Chief Product Officer for 4 years and prior to that as CPO of NetEnt for 7 years. Relax Gaming is a b2b provider of Poker, Bingo, Casino games and Aggregation. We provide over 3000 games to the market which is derived from our own game production and partner studios.”
You’ve certainly had a good year with the huge success of the Top Dawg$ slot that recently won the SlotsWise Hottest New Slot 2021 Award! What was your inspiration and development process for this game?
“Relax with its own production always wants to produce unique and exciting content that is consistently high level. The idea for Top Dawg$ came from taking a classic theme but adding an edgy twist.
The use of hip hop is quite underserved in the market but we wanted to add a light comical twist and it just developed from there. The title is a familiar one and naturally we wanted to create some Top Dawg winners!”
Your games are filled with innovative features and mechanics like Infinity Reels and Nudging Ways. Do you plan on releasing new titles with other features?
“We always aim to create new mechanics almost with every game. Many of these are either known or iterations of known and occasionally you come across a mechanic that is truly market first. There is a small trend of branding mechanics, largely due to the success of Megaways as an example.
We are careful not to embrace every feature or new idea as a 'branded mechanic', only those that we feel are appropriately unique and may if they are received well to create future iterations of.”
In your recent release Santa’s Stack, you combined mystery symbols with re-spins and free spins. What was it like developing this game?
“Relax has created some fantastic 8-bit inspired games as well as the low poly style that is also very popular. Christmas is always populated with very much the same type of game so we wanted to take a unique and fun twist with this one.
Santa's Stack was a fun project as with all 8bit styled games you can inject a heavy amount of personality, combine this with the mechanic and volatility the end result is highly engaging.”
You’ve been present on the slots market since 2010. What would you say you’ve learned since your first release?
“Over the years, I have learned an awful lot and continue to learn. I have released over the years some of the industry biggest titles and take great pride in have brought some of the biggest branded content to market as well. That said, despite efforts, not all games result in hits of course so you have to learn a lot.
A key lesson I have learned is truly to listen and look at what the market is enjoying and playing and to adapt to the times. What was released 3-4 years ago and been successful would not resonate today. Ultimately market demands and needs change so a key lesson is despite experience, you must be willing and eager to adapt.”
In your own opinion, what are the key reasons behind your games being received so well amongst the players?
“I think there are several reasons why Relax has resonated so well. Our goal was to ensure a few key areas and I think players have seen that endeavour in what is a sea of available content. The Relax content is high visual quality, interesting and new mechanic flows and also a good variance and payout potential.
Whilst, not every game will be a hit players I feel can see that Relax is trying to stand out from the crowd and doesn't do what everyone does. I believe this has kept interest and engagement high for our latest releases.”
Is there a specific slot from Relax Gaming that you are extra proud of?
“There are several key moments and productions. The game I feel most proud of as a company is Money Train 2. It's very hard to make a sequel on a game that is successful let alone one that absolutely smashes its predecessor.
The games are of course played in the development and when a game mechanic is so exciting even without any graphics you know you have something potentially special. In 2020, Relax arguably made the biggest game of the year that spread heavily into 2021 which is a remarkable achievement given the thousands of games made available on the market.”
What can we expect from Relax Gaming in 2022?
“Relax has some very exciting plans for 2022. We have already shared our current Q1 release plans and notably, players I am sure will be very excited about Space Miners and Beast Mode in February. That said we have also some brilliant projects coming that are truly industry-leading in 2022 and I am very excited about what is to come.”
Thank you Simon for taking the hot seat in the SlotsWise Interview Series! We can't wait to see your new games and brilliant projects.
In the meantime, we invite you to check the fantastic Relax games that are currently available to play and see why Relax Gaming is the true industry-leading slots provider!