We had the pleasure to talk to Anastasia Bauer, Head of Account Management, Betsoft Gaming to find out more about what keeps them releasing great slots and great promos. With new features and more gamification across a raft of new slots to come, things are definitely looking good for Betsoft fans this year.
Tell us a bit about yourself. Who are you and what is your role at Betsoft?
I’m Anastasia Bauer and I’m Head of Account Management at Betsoft Gaming. My role is to guide and support the account managers. Together, we ensure that our world class service and customer support constantly retain and expand our clients’ knowledge of our products with the goal of always growing as a business, as a team and as individuals.
With so many game studios on the market, what do you think is the biggest differentiator for Betsoft?
With over 17 years’ experience, we have the benefit of an instantly recognisable brand and signature style. However, the smoothness of our gameplay, whereby triggering each feature and mechanic develops the narrative and leads players to the next level, is backed up with solid maths. This gives our releases legs and makes them highly visible in a crowded market.
What is the most important aspect of a slot from your perspective?
That’s quite a hard one to answer as good releases are the sum of their parts, rather than just one component. A solid maths model is essential from both a commercial and player perspective so getting that right is key.
Innovation across features and mechanics is also hugely important for creating long-term engagement. All our releases must measure up to our quality standards to ensure continued player and client trust in the brand; so I have to say that every aspect of slot design and delivery is important to us!
Is there any way to predict if a slot is going to be a hit or not?
Our long industry experience alongside our research and player feedback is incredibly important in steering us towards successful releases. Plus, we have a team of fantastic professionals across every department to guide us.
Generally, if you know your market and your audience and correctly evaluate the data, then your slots will be successful. We were working on the concept of personalisation for some time before we released Wilds of Fortune™ – where the feel of playing the slots in a real casino environment was the driver. All our research, alongside the informed choice of design, mechanics and features, told us this release would be huge: and it was even bigger than we expected, winning Game of the Year 2022.
But every so often players throw a curve ball, so we never forget that human nature can always surprise you!
What are your top 3 favourite slots from Betsoft? Can you please tell us the reasons behind your choices?
Number 1 is Golden Dragon Inferno™ – I love this feature rich slot with its Nudging Multiplier Wild Reel and generous Hold & Win bonus.
When you trigger this feature, you get three re-spins and the triggering symbols become sticky. Each new Bonus symbol then locks into place and resets the re-spins back to three; so you can collect multiple Bonus symbols to trigger the really significant wins. The excitement is immense.
Rags to Witches™ – our Halloween themed release was the first to showcase our newly improved jackpot mechanic. It offers Mini, Minor, Major and Mega prizes when the feature randomly triggers in the base game. The crisp graphics and innovative mechanics make this a winning release for me.
Finally, our 2021 release 88 Frenzy Fortune™ is the best example of simplicity with unforgettable Betsoft signature quality.
The Bonus Rounds make 88 Frenzy Fortune very special with three options: 8x Your Win Multiplier Bonus; 18x Your Stake Bonus and the unique 88 Respin Bonus which features its own multiplier on wins. It really is a beautiful game and with very big win potential too.
From the ‘Big Win’ perspective, which of your new slots would you recommend our readers play?
I would suggest either Mr. Vegas 2 – Big Money Tower™ or Triple Cash or Crash™ – our new crash game release. Both are very different styles but with huge win potential.
Mr. Vegas 2 – Big Money Tower™ is the newly released sequel to 2012’s Mr. Vegas™ which was, and still is, hugely successful.
The new iteration gives Three Towers – Bronze, Silver and Gold. Triggering the feature means a random Tower will open in a new screen and players flip a coin to climb the Tower for the big money prizes. Each rung climbed takes players up a level to a new Multiplier value of their stake. However far players get, there is always a win, but the higher you climb the bigger the multiplier with an ultimate 1,000x stake payout potential on the Gold Tower. Definitely worth playing.
Triple Cash or Crash™ brings an edge-of-the seat crash gaming experience to our players. The concept is to launch three astronauts in their rocket and watch the multipliers rise with them.
Excitement comes through the decision as to when to cash out. With a potential win up to 100,000x in this nail biting mission to the moon, you choose when to eject before the spacecraft explodes. Plus, as you can bet individually on each astronaut, this makes our crash game fairly unique.
You have recently organised three different Network Promotions. Can you tell us more about these and your Promo tools?
Network Promotions are an important addition to our offering. A strong driver of success for recent Betsoft promotions has been the combined use of Take the Prize™ and Tournament. These Promo tools are key parts of Drive™, our toolbox for player enhancement and promotions.
Both are customisable tools and can be applied separately or together. They are designed to bring in-game experiences with real-time notifications, instant rewards and a highly inventive UI for the ultimate user experience.
Take the Prize™ offers a randomly triggered fortune wheel with cash prizes or bonuses at any point in a game without interrupting play. Tournament is aimed at a competitive, high value player base and brings substantial prize potential alongside frequent wins, plus leader boards on each game which constantly update in real-time. This allows players to track their own and other players’ progress throughout any promotion to add to the excitement.
Our most recent Network Promotion – Cash Race – used both player enhancement tools simultaneously across 45+ of our top performing slots. The result was a very significant uplift of 55%+ player participation, 56%+ rounds played, plus 50%+ up on bets placed.
Based on this success we currently have another fantastic promotion in planning, so definitely follow us on social media to be kept aware of where and how to win with Betsoft slots.
Looking to the future, what is the next big thing Betsoft is planning?
We have a number of engaging new slots both in production and ready for release. These will bring features from a re-design for table games, starting with Supreme 777 Jackpots™ in May, to a new Red Dragon™ release – Phò’ Sho™ – with the Hold & Win Bonus feature we released last year. All will showcase Betsoft’s signature immersive quality play and great win potential.
We have also recently launched our Mini Games. Aimed at a sportsbook user crossover, we are excited to bring this great concept to our clients. To date, 15 Betsoft slots offering very quick loading and lightweight deployment are available, with more in production. Two slots offer both Jackpot and Non Jackpot variations, so we are really covering all the elements for great wins with great play.
Gamification is very important and we are currently in development with a new addition to Betsoft Drive™ so lots of exciting news and new developments still to come this year.
