The Future of iGaming: Bringing Your Online Casino To Life Through Storytelling

The trend towards more social, entertainment-focused, gaming is an exciting development that’s already in full swing across our industry. Many believe this is the most effective way to engage the modern player – and the best way to keep retention levels high, which is especially important in a highly-competitive iGaming market.

Leading games developer Spinomenal has developed a Marvel-style games universe that promises players an exciting journey which will keep them engaged and coming back for more.

Delivered through the use of interactive social features and the art of storytelling, Spinomenal is taking the online casino sector to the next level. 

We spoke with Nir Ronen, Spinomenal’s Chief Commercial and Operations Officer, to find out what this looks like in practical terms and what impact it will have on an operator’s ability to acquire–and retain–savvy casino players going forward.

Operating in such a saturated market means it can be challenging for operators to retain customer loyalty. How can the integration of Spinomenal’s revolutionary, Marvel-style, universe concept help to improve customer retention?

“The ‘Spinomenal Universe’ has been created to enhance player loyalty through both its revolutionary concept and its multiple promotional activities that feature prominently. Our initial thought process was to produce a unique mechanism that significantly increases player retention for operator partners by launching an exclusive side story within Spinomenal which is only accessible to particular players of that operator.

“This means that operators can have exclusive, and even branded, mini-series of games that carry their own storyline according to specific audience preferences. Those operators that truly know their player audience will benefit most as they can manipulate gameplay to meet demand. This industry-first vision ultimately means that players will be able to immerse themselves in a world where their favourite characters from separate series coexist in the same environment.

“In addition to this, some of the features in the Spinomenal Universe will be progress-based. This progress is reset when the player moves to another operator.” 

In terms of player engagement, social gaming leads the way. How can game aggregation platforms better improve these aspects? (*Network tournament prize pools, players choosing story lines, etc.)

“Even though our social gaming products are very similar to our real-money products in design, the product is different in its essence. While you can really push the boundaries with a social gaming product, there are very clear rules that a real-money product must adhere to in order to meet strict compliance and regulatory thresholds.

“The first is that a player enjoying real-money games must instantly be clear on what is happening in the game at all times. They must understand the mechanics and the rules. If any element is unclear then the player will quickly come to distrust the game. This gives operators the challenge of finding the perfect balance between keeping the game simple without sacrificing engagement levels. 

“Our plan is to have an ongoing option of implementing the tournament tool within the series of games that are the building blocks of the Spinomenal Universe. An innovative change that we are introducing within this universe is the ability for players to decide their own destinies – and have a role in how the storyline will unfold. 

“A player will be able to affect where the story goes next, to play with their favourite character in different scenes, to see mix-ups of characters they might know from different games or be free to take a journey in the Spinomenal Universe, all without over complicating the mechanics of the games.”  

Effectively organising the layout of a games lobby to optimise player experience is a continual challenge for operators. How can content providers help operators with this process, and does creating holistic themes for your games help with this?

“Location, intuition and navigation are the vital factors in designing an online casino lobby that delivers the desired effect. A counterbalance to this issue is that the casinos have limited spatial ‘real-estate’ in which to display the games on the homepage, especially when it comes to the minimised space available for mobile.  

“Spinomenal’s universe concept will enable operators to optimise their casino lobbies by giving them the autonomy to position a logo not just of one game, but a series of games. In the not-too-distant future, operators will have the chance to place only the Spinomenal Universe logo which will take players deep into the universe where multiple adventures await.

“Our technology is such that when a player clicks the series logo they will have instant access to all the games and then seamlessly be able to jump between narratives, or games, without having to return to the lobby each time.

“This way, in a single location the casino can have multiple games and not just one. Players who want to play the storyline can truly transport themselves into the Spinomenal Universe.”

New blockchain tech can be a great opportunity for businesses to innovate their product offering and engage a new audience. How can third-party solution providers like Spinomenal help operators to do this? (*creating NFTs from characters)

“This is one of our most exciting projects, and I wish I could tell you more about our plans. But my hands are tied. One part of the project that I can share are some details about our partnership with AplicaMedia.

“Our friends at Aplica have created an NFT-based VIP card. Any player who purchases the VIP card from Aplica will receive different benefits in a variety of casinos and access to VIP versions of Spinomenal games, in addition to special storylines in the Spinomenal Universe.

“Other than this NFT project, we have several other plans bubbling away that will revolve around nascent NFT technology. Our ever-expanding catalogue of games will support NFT technology, so we can onboard any initiative from our operators. We will grant players the option to adjust our games and the Spinomenal Universe with their NFT assets.”

Editors’ Note:

From speaking with Nir, it’s very apparent that finding the balance between social and real-money gaming is a very difficult task. The freedom that social gaming allows is not easily transferred to the strictly regulated real-money environment. So operators must tread carefully. 

The beauty of products like Spinomenal’s Casino Universe is that the player will always be in control, whilst enjoying a progressive, immersive storyline. Operators who truly know their player audience will benefit most as they can manipulate gameplay to meet demand, seamlessly jumping between narratives.

Undoubtedly, this is an exciting milestone in our industry and means that we can look forward to a world of Online Casino where the player can create their own, story-led, experience and enjoy all the benefits of a social-based game; yet with the strict safety measures in place that real-money gaming must always provide. 

There’s an exciting future ahead for the slots sector and we look forward to seeing more operators adopting this style of gaming going forward.