Tatem Games CEO Igor Karev speaks to Social Casino Intelligence following the mobile games developer launching its first social casino title Tower Slots on Facebook
Social Casino Intelligence (SCi): With a portfolio of nine games currently, what prompted Tatem Games to launch its first social casino game?
Igor Karev (IK): I’ve been in the gaming business for over 17 years and within that time I have seen a great shift from games being a passionate hobby for a niche audience to them becoming a favourite way to pass time for the mass market. About two years ago everyone in our industry started talking about casino games, the revenues they generated and projections for the coming years. I started observing the casino game genres on mobile and social spaces more closely and saw that these games were on the rise, but that there was still room for more unique casino-based experiences.
I also thought that our team of experienced game designers and artists could use the casino mechanics as a building block and incorporate it with other game mechanics into something new and exciting. So, hard evidence of revenue potential and extensive expertise in other areas of gaming were the reasons why we made Tower Slots. I also took an early prototype of the game to various casino shows, demoed it to experts in the field, and got an overwhelmingly positive feedback. We consulted with a few companies who were already making social casino games and decided to move forward and release Tower Slots on Facebook.
SCi: Why did you decide to incorporate city building into the game?
IK: I think that casino games on mobile and social spaces will expand beyond direct ports of physical slot machines or roulette tables. The digital platforms allow for more creativity and flexibility and we see developers using this potential to bring to life brave and fresh ideas. I’m sure we are just scratching the surface now of how casino games evolve to become even more mainstream.
The basic mechanics of a slot machine, bingo or roulette are easy to understand and very addictive – this alone is half of any game’s success. We believe that simple and addictive elements can be used to build deeper, more robust, and less linear game experiences. City building is just one of the examples of the deeper gameplay I’m talking about. We already have a few more ideas of layers that can be wrapped around slot machines to produce new games, where spinning will remain a core game loop but the process of spinning and winning is presented from a new angle, creating new fascinating worlds, and increasing the impact the slot machine has on these worlds.
SCi: Do you have any plans to incorporate additional game features into Tower Slots?
IK: Yes, the closest update will bring more life to the cities that our players are building by spinning their slot machines and at the same time make the game even more social. After a building is completed (for those not familiar with the game, completing a building needs a number of certain winning combinations) the player will be able to populate their cities with their friends. Their avatar will appear in the city with a ‘wish’ linked to a particular building, and the player will need to fulfil this wish by sending his friend to the corresponding building (read a book in library, do sports in gym, practice law in court). Completing these little tasks will be fun and rewarding for the player: he will get extra currency for successfully completed tasks. We also expect that it will enrich the game experience and make people come to the game more often, to check on their friends who live in the cities they built, and provide help to friends when necessary.
SCi: How important is mobile as a platform for Tatem Games’ products?
IK: Tatem Games has always been a mobile-first company, so despite Tower Slots’ initial release on Facebook, we will definitely bring it to mobile. We have strong presence with other our games on both iOS and Android, so the plan is to launch the games on both. The game is built on a cross-platform engine, which allows easy porting, so as soon as we make sure our monetisation funnels and virility channels are working properly, the game will be released on mobile.