FunFair Games – We believe that Today’s Gambler Wants to be Connected
FunFair Games has officially debuted as a standalone provider, with a vision of developing a new genre of titles and with designs on attracting the next generation of online gamblers.
The subsidiary of blockchain group FunFair Technologies, which takes its learnings from the crypto-gambling space, has agreed to partner with EveryMatrix’s RGS Matrix to distribute its content directly to its network of platforms and operators.
FunFair Games’ first launch will be titled Rocketeers, To The Moon!, with the firm lauding the distribution capabilities of its multiplayer game content, which had previously been available solely to blockchain players.
With FunFair Games’ titles pencilled in to debut during the first quarter of 2021, CasinoBeats caught up with Lloyd Purser, COO at FunFair Games, to get the lowdown on the launch, attracting the next generation of gambler, and lessons learned from the crypto-gambling ecosystem.
CB: To begin on a relatively simple note, what were the thoughts behind this launch?
LP: We’ve been involved in crypto for a number of years now and have learned a lot about the sector’s players and what they want. One stand-out difference is that many crypto players want a different style of casino game. These are what we describe as multiplayer to single outcome games, with the most popular example being Crash, also known as Moon.
“OUR AIM IS TO MAINTAIN THE FOUNDATIONS THAT WE’VE SEEN BECOME SO SUCCESSFUL”
These types of games offer a very different experience to the standard single-player game, or even live casino games, in the traditional casino space. The players looking for these games are mainly younger, so Gen Y and Gen Z. We put two and two together and decided to start developing not just crash-inspired games, but several alternative concepts based on the core foundations that attract this demographic of player.
Research shows that this is a demographic which under indexes on games like slots, by comparison to the older gambling audience. And this didn’t come as a lightbulb moment. It just seemed like a no-brainer for us to focus on this direction given our vast experience in crypto and multiplayer game development.
CB: You state that you are aiming to attract the next generation of gambler, how do your tactics/strategies differ from those that have expressed similar aims?
LP: There are other developers out there in both the land-based and digital sectors trying to do similar things. The likes of Green Jade, GameCo to name a couple who are working on combining skill-based elements and video game inspiration in a gambling context, but the majority of this content is single-player; a key differential to our approach.
You’ve also got the likes of Evolution building an impressive genre of game-show style live games that are innovative in their features and heavily entertainment-focused. Monopoly Live and Crazy Time are multiplayer, community-driven games. However, they remain focused on the live game show aspect and have a very different experience to playing a video gambling game.
Our aim is to maintain the foundations that we’ve seen become so successful within core crypto games. This involves an absolute focus on multiplayer-first content to build a sense of community within the games, with other players’ activity on view, both in real-time and historically, and with added features allowing players to express themselves through emojis, for example.
“…WE DON’T NEED LOTS OF BELLS AND WHISTLES TO KEEP PLAYERS INTERESTED”
These crypto-inspired games also require players to make decisions as an active part of the game. Ultimately, the RNG will deliver the result, but the player has still made a choice to win or lose, and in most cases, by how much. With the added ability to set their own RTP and level of risk, players also have a clear choice, another significant draw for this audience.
All the above is delivered simply, meaning the mechanics themselves remain highly compelling and exciting, with the entertainment remaining focused on the ‘gamble’, so we don’t need lots of bells and whistles to keep players interested.
CB: What lessons have been learned from the crypto-gambling ecosystem that you take with you to the ‘traditional’ gaming sector?
LP: As mentioned, simplicity is key. Most of the successful multiplayer crypto games, such as Crash, are very straightforward and have very low-spec production values, often looking like 2D line graphs with no engaging audio. Initially, we were shocked at how many concurrent players were active on these games and the bet sizes.
This is how we came to understand that the mechanics were truly sound and something to build on. We’re going to build on these learnings, keeping to the core foundations, we’ll continue to expand on the wider concept as we take more learnings from the crypto and traditional sectors.
Given our studio’s experience in gambling and video game development, we will also add tier-one graphics, animation, and audio that can bring these titles into the mainstream, allowing them to compete with the high production values often found in igaming today.
“IT’S SET TO BE A REALLY EXCITING FEW MONTHS FOLLOWING THE FIRST GAME LAUNCH”
CB: A heavy multiplayer focus has been asserted, do you believe this is an area that is relatively untapped?
LP: Yes, definitely within the casino vertical. It’s been touched on in live casino, but not so much elsewhere.
For us, multiplayer drives community. Has streaming slot play become so popular because they are making a single-player, solitary experience a shared one? I’d argue that it has. I also believe it’s remained untapped as the infrastructure hasn’t been there for more innovative, perhaps smaller studios, to get any traction with multiplayer titles. Most aggregator RGS’ out there, particularly those supporting the publisher model, remain single-player ones.
This is why our partnership with RGS Matrix has been so critical for us to move forward. Their commitment to supporting multiplayer to single outcome games on their RGS, with no additional work for operators required, will make it a far easier sell for us in the initial stages.
We believe that today’s gambler wants to be connected, and we want to deliver the games that allow them to do just that. We’re in the process of delivering this and we hope to demonstrate the proof of concept that simultaneous, real-time gameplay can and will bring in new players and drive new revenue.
CB: What does the FunFair Games roadmap look like through 2021?
LP: We’re currently in the integration stage for multiplayer games with RGS Matrix, getting our first game, Rocketeers, To The Moon!, on the platform and ready for demonstration. It is a Crash-style game, but with the added quality and richness expected by players in the traditional sector, and with other engagement tools such as emojis and win celebrations, there’s also that extra layer which we know resonates well.
We’ve stuck with the core foundations of what we want to do, which is deliver social, active, and simple games to the end-user. This game will launch in early 2021, and will soon be followed by other unique versions of multiplayer games away from the Crash concept, but inspired by other successes we’ve seen in both the crypto and traditional markets.
Initially, we’ll look to release a game every couple of months, with this cadence picking up as we move forward, but we want to make sure we focus on quality and have the chance to leverage mass distribution with these games being new. It will be a different sales process compared to a normal slot release, for example.
On that front, we’re also kicking off conversations with numerous to showcase our new games and their value in driving revenue via an alternate offering. An exclusive arrangement with like-minded operators is ideal, so we can push the game concepts and drive success through co-marketing and shared passion.
It’s set to be a really exciting few months following the first game launch, and we can’t wait to lead the way in trying to reshape casino gaming for a new audience of players, and in doing so drive new revenue streams for operators worldwide.
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