Pulse
Spribe: Millennials want minimalism and simplicity
By Lewis - 29 April 2021
Spribe’s David Natroshvili and Shalva Bukia begin by explaining how the company’s partnership with Georgia’s biggest online casino, Adjarabet, set the wheels in motion for a rollercoaster few years which has seen the iGaming developer’s Turbo Games suite go live with 400 operators, with a similar number of integrations expected in the year ahead.
Shalva: The company was founded in 2018 following ten years’ experience operating in Georgia’s iGaming industry. We were one of the fastest growing operators that differentiated from the competition by developing our own games.
In 2018, we were approached by Adjarabet, a subsidiary of Flutter Entertainment, to begin developing their games. When we were working on this project, we discovered that our new genre of Turbo Games was becoming popular in the crypto casino space.
Despite initially refusing our proposal to trial our Turbo Games, when Aviator, our flagship game, launched with Adjarabet the numbers skyrocketed. Even now, it remains one of Adjarabet’s top performing games. We are now seeing the same thing with other operators we have gone live with our Turbo Games.
David: Spribe are an innovative game development company that makes unique content for online casinos. Whilst the content we make was not very popular two years ago, similar games previously exclusive to crypto and social casinos are now becoming mainstream and changing the online gaming landscape.
What are Turbo Games?
Shalva: Turbo Games is a new genre. Whilst you may interpret this as a developer simply hyping up its products, there are no traditional games I can compare Turbo Games with. They have a very simplistic user interface and graphics with an emphasis on the social experience.
We have found that millennials are more engaged with our Turbo Games than traditional titles because it matches their background. They are designed to be quick, engaging and played on the go.
How are elements of social media implemented into Turbo Games to make them a new kind of social multiplayer?
Shalva: The best way to answer this question is to look at Aviator. Aviator is a multiplayer game where you bet on a line that goes up when a plane takes off. There are several factors that makes this game so engaging and unique. Unlike traditional slots, players are continually coming back and playing Aviator month after month, much like Roulette and Blackjack.
From a social standpoint, you can see what other players betting and their statistics, as well as online chat in a minimalistic interface. For millennials coning from a social media background, this is very familiar.
How successful have Turbo Games been since their introduction to regular online casinos? What was the process for getting onto these sites with a new type of game?
David: Whilst the genre of Turbo Games has been increasing its market share, Aviator is really making a name for itself. Immediately when you open Turbo Games, it doesn’t look like a casino game. It is very hard to do anything new in gaming that has reasonable success. The player is an active participant.
Usually, when operators ask me how successful the title can be and how it can perform, I use the same metric that can sound very unrealistic but is the reality. Aviator alone can create around 10-15 per cent of all slot provider’s GGR. Saying all the slot providers in the online casino were combined to €1,000,000, Aviator will make €100,000-€150,000.
First of all, it is really unique and offers a totally different experience to other games because it is interactive. Players have to make a decision and cash out at the right time. Granting a sense of control offers a mixture of a betting and video slot experience and we have the highest conversion rates from these player types.
Whilst we have all types of players playing our games, they are the two main audiences that naturally enjoy Aviator.
If Turbo Games are Spribe’s main USP in terms of content, what is the rationale for developing a Poker offering?
David: Good question. Sprite’s philosophy as a company is to create a unique experience for players. We are player orientated so create the best possible product for our customers. In two years, we have managed to become live on around 400 operators with our Turbo Games suite, which is a huge success, with a further 300-400 integrations this year including tier one operators in new jurisdictions.
However, there is a strong interest from tier one operators for Poker. Whilst Adjarabet had Poker on its site for a long time with an impressive GGR, they wanted something new, and custom made. Like Turbo Games, our Poker offering is designed to target millennials.
Poker has been around for many years but very few things change, and we saw a share in the market for a different type of Poker offering.
Our Poker game is modern and easy to play even for people who don’t know the rules. We want to open up the game for new people to enjoy. The minimalistic design and friendliness for newbies and professionals alike makes both demographics feel comfortable in-game.
We have launched our Poker offering in Georgia and Armenia to great success with several fold increases in GGR. In a few months, we look forward to introducing this game to more markets.
Shalva: There are a number of big Poker offerings on the market but most of them are outdated, legacy products. They are good, but we think it is a very stale market waiting for a simplistic, new solution.
With our games, we are trying to cross-sell games across our verticals. Right now, players cannot jump from our Turbo Games into another of our products. We want to offer free bets for Aviator or Dice within the Poker game and vice versa. The idea is to offer a suite of games to operators that are self-sustainable and cross-sell across different verticals, improving our engagement tools.
