Pulse

SuperSlice: charting a different course

By Lewis - 27 January 2022

Founded in March 2021, RAW iGaming set out with a conviction ‘to create something that stands out in the sea of sameness’. Now set to release its debut games, the studio’s patent-pending SuperSlice engine is front and centre of its adopted mantra.

G3 sits down with CEO, Tom Wood, to discuss how the engine works and its potential to change the way slots are played.

Tom, you’ve previously been part of iconic games such as 88Fortunes, Raging Rhino and Rainbow Riches. What inspired you to go in a different direction and found a new studio?

I do have a few games under my belt and feel privileged and proud to be part of bringing those iconic titles online. However, I started feeling that we, as in the whole industry, are mostly following and copying each other and that innovation was sparse.

At RAW, we have been monitoring slot launches for quite some time and there are some 200+ new video slots launched to operators every month. I’ll say that again, there are 200+ new video slot launches every single month. That’s a lot of content for both players and operators to consume and we lovingly refer to this as the Sea of Sameness.

More than 70 per cent of games in the Sea of Sameness are either 3×5 reel or 4×5 reel sets and a large portion of the remaining games are Megaways or cluster pay mechanics. This means players are seeing a lot of the same game themes and mechanics and we decided we didn’t want to swim in those congested waters.

This meant we were forced to look long and hard at the data, the marketplace and the mechanics in order to come up with ways to create games that are differentiated but still understandable and entertaining for players.

How does SuperSlice differentiate from this Sea of Sameness?

We hope and believe SuperSlice will be instrumental in creating a new gaming segment, much in the way Megaways and Slingo have done and hence we aren’t just adding features to the existing box but replacing it with an opportunity to develop a new industry game style.

This type of innovation could support its own tab on an operator site and, in my opinion, one must go beyond the current box or even just outside of it in order to obtain that kind of status. New gaming formats that have the ability to shift player preferences don’t just live outside of the box, they exist beyond its periphery.

Talk us through the specifics of SuperSlice. How does the engine challenge the ‘reel norm’?

Stating the obvious, our games are wheels instead of reels which by default is something outside the traditional reel presentation which could create a new “norm” if it resonates with players. The key to the SuperSlice engine, outside of it being a wheel, is its dynamic nature where players never know the number of slices that will appear in the wheel and what those slices will hold.

Together with the unknown stop position of the wheel, this creates a lot of anticipation, not to mention the opportunity to play well-known game features in an entirely new way. Besides that, players are so used to seeing the same presentation layer and re-used game themes which create a “normal” situation for players and while it provides for familiarity, it could lead to a repetitive strain where players tire and look to other channels for entertainment such as social or streaming media.

We believe that to keep players engaged, we need to provide new innovative content that hopefully creates new opportunities to entertain, attract and retain players. While our games might re-use similar themes and well-known features from traditional reel games, they provide for a completely new way to play and experience those themes and features.

Are players looking for something truly innovative, interesting and different to capture the imagination, or are they seeking familiarity?

I think this is a very valid question and to be honest, is a bit unknown at this point. However, we do believe it’s a bit of both. We know players are eager to try something new but also that players tend to revert to familiar games as the recognition factor is a strong driver. Having said that, we have a very good recent example with Megaways, which was new and innovative when it came out and now has almost become a household mechanic.

This clearly demonstrates players are seeking new experiences, anxious to play them and willing to adopt them as the new standard. The beauty of the SuperSlice engine is that while it looks completely different and innovative to the player, it retains a lot of familiarity so there are no barriers to learning while at the same time providing a completely new gaming experience.

What are your thoughts on studios who openly say they are looking at what’s popular in the market to then go and make their own version, as opposed to the approach RAW iGaming has taken with the SuperSlice engine?

Personally, I believe that it is simply not enough to just look at what’s popular and build variations. I know there are a lot of studios that take that path and that’s fine, so long as they are open about this as their strategy. For RAW, we don’t see this as a viable long-term strategy and instead want to focus on bringing genuine innovations to the table.

Wheels of Rock and Journey to Chaos will be the first games to debut the new engine. What constitutes a successful launch, both for the debut titles and SuperSlice?

One of the absolute keys to a successful launch is lobby placement and marketing commitments. This is extremely crucial to give Wheels of Rock and Journey to Chaos a fair chance of having as many player eyes as possible. As it stands today this looks extremely promising and we have had overwhelming positive operator feedback so it’s obvious there is an appetite for innovation.

Having said that, we are very humble and fully aware that RAW won’t be built in a day and that it will take time to find our secret sauce. We will be using Future Anthem’s Amplifier product to follow player behaviour and preferences so that we can build better with each new game. We are very confident we will get it right and will find our customer base that loves SuperSlice games.

How will your upcoming roadmap of titles be dictated by accumulated learnings from each release?

At RAW we believe in combining data with industry knowledge and real-life feedback. We will do that through analysing massive amounts of quantitative data as well looking at qualitative data based on everything from operators, streamers, community sites and player feedback.