Hi Paul, we’re glad to have the opportunity to chat with you. Could you give our readers a brief intro to Eyecon and tell us how you came to join forces with them?
Sure. Eyecon was launched in 1997 in Australia by players who wanted more from gaming. Since switching our focus to online slots in 1999, we have created some of the biggest bingo slots on the market, including Fluffy Favourites,Temple of Iris and Shamans Dream. We have a proven track record of making games that players love!
We were acquired by Playtech in 2017, and today we have a portfolio of more than 100 titles and a full suite of engagement tools to enhance player experience across all our games. We strive to keep pushing forward to offer our players and operators more. Because of this offering we are proud partners with the world’s biggest casino operators.
In March you’ve managed to reach a top 3 position in our ProviderRank for the UK market. What does this mean to you and what have you done to reach such a strong position for the United Kingdom market?
We have a long and successful heritage within the UK slots market which goes back almost 20 years. We pride ourselves on the close relationships we build with each of our clients. This focus on our clients has meant we have a deep relationship with the majority of the large UK operators.
I think this coupled with the fact that we have some of the most recognisable games within the UK market such as Fluffy Favourites, Temple of Iris and Shamans Dream has helped to get us into such a strong position here. It is great to have this validated by SlotCatalog.
You’re also having a fair share of the lobby positions in other markets. How does your work connected to the other markets market differ or from the UK market?
The UK has always been a focus in our strategic market plan, however we have long-standing relationships going into other jurisdictions aswell. Spain is one such market where we have performed particularly well, as well as others across the rest of Europe and LATAM where we have been working closely with operators for several years. Over these years we have had to learn about the varying intricacies and cultures when working within these different markets, and in line with our focus on customer relationships we have ensured we excel at this. Moving forward our objective is to build on this momentum and increase penetration in other markets. We are already certified in Sweden and Spain, the next step for us is getting certified in Italy and then expanding into others beyond this.
What’s the corporate culture like at Eyecon?
We know that our teams are our greatest asset, so we work hard to ensure that each of our staff members knows how valued they are.
We have over 50 employees across five locations including Australia, Gibraltar, Israel and the Channel Islands. Throughout the whole organisation we pride ourselves on fostering an environment that promotes creativity, diversity and loyalty – many of the team have been with us for many years. We were founded in Australia so this heritage plays a key part in Eyecon’s values.
What new games can we look forward to in the near future?
We have a very strong roadmap coming up this year with roughly one game release a month. As well as making slots for our homegrown UK markets we also have exciting innovations for other jurisdictions. Two games which are definitely ones to look out for this year are Galactic Girls and Clover Rollover 2.
Galactic Girls is one that I am really looking forward to the release of. It is a 5×6, 7776 ways slot. This is a completely new maths model and the game is absolutely jam packed with features including a symbol replacer, multiplier, expanding wilds and much more. This is a really innovative game with incredible graphics and meticulous attention to detail.
The second release I am hugely excited by is Clover Rollover 2. We have secured the rights to make the sequel to Playtech’s legendary Clover Rollover. This game was a key IP for Playtech and we are honoured to have been trusted with the sequel to this iconic game. Clover Rollover 2 will utilise the same maths model as the original, with updated graphics and will include the 3-level Eyecon Jackpot system, whilst keeping true to the original.
We’d like to hear some of your personal opinions. Let’s start with what you think is the most important aspect of a successful game?
We have always believed it is all about making games that players love. We focus on making games that are good fun and easy for players to play, with inoffensive themes and complimentary maths models.
Eyecon’s historical strap line has always been ‘players love Eyecon games’ and this is as true today as it ever has been. Our games stand the test of time with proven longevity across our classic games. Both Shamans Dream and Fluffy Favourites have enjoyed over 10 years of success each by following this belief.
Which one of your slot games is your personal favourite? You can only name one!
It might be an obvious one, but I am going to go with Fluffy Favourites. Not only it is our most successful game, it has been one of the highest ever performing games in the UK across hundreds of sites for 15 years. It is a vibrant game full of charm and is just really fun to play. With 3 sequels and another on its way later this year there is plenty of variety and choice to offer players who just can’t seem to get enough of this game.
The competitive landscape is getting tougher each month, what would you say makes you stand out from your competitors?
We have always believed in a focus on customer relationships. Each of our customers has a dedicated account manager who gets to know them personally. We work very closely with all our operators, collaborating with each of them to create bespoke promotions, initiatives, product enhancements and game launch exclusives to suit their individual needs and requirements. This personal approach means that we are able to work with companies that have brands across multiple platforms with ease and flexibility, offering exclusives across those platforms.
We appreciate that it is important to be in the same place as our clients. We ensure that we visit them in person, presenting useful insights, data and benchmarking in order to make our relationships as strong and successful as possible.
Why do you think players should try your games after finishing reading this interview?
Because players love Eyecon games! They resonate with the markets that we have been in for many years. We always make sure that the RTP for our games is fair for our players in order to keep the game fun, and match this with engaging and colourful graphics and themes.
Do you have any specific predictions regarding the iGaming industry future?
I think the future is going to be all about the ‘in-game’ elements. The slot providers that will be successful will be the ones that are able to add the bells and whistles to their slots.
This is certainly our focus at Eyecon. We have been able to offer our operators jackpots and free spins across all our games for years and we are now really excited to have just launched our Megastar Tournaments. We spent a long time developing our tournaments system and have made it a truly flexible and adaptable engagement tool. We are also looking into even more in-game features and new engagement tools now as well, in order to keep offering our operators and players more.
Before we wrap this up we would like to hear about your plans and focus points for 2020. Do you mind sharing them with us?
As I mentioned earlier, we have just launched our Megastar Tournaments. This tournament product can be used across all Eyecon games, with the flexibility to include as many or few game titles as you like in one tournament. Operators can choose the timing, frequency and prizes that suit them, offering what we believe is one of the most flexible tournament systems out there. For instance, we can add any live game from our existing 100+ title portfolio with no work from the operator, or create separate game codes for special tournament only games.
In addition to game releases and development of more engagement tools we will also be focusing on strategic licencing deals. We are working with a number of partners on licencing the Fluffy brand in a number of game formats – watch this space, some of them are shaping up to be big winners.
That’s definitely a cool feature, being able to participate in larger tournaments by still playing the favourite Eyecon title. Anything else you would wish to say before we say goodbye?
Eyecon continues to go from strength to strength. 2020 is set to be a huge year for us. We are busier than ever developing our most innovative games and exciting engagement tools. We are very much open for business and would love to speak to you about what we can offer.