Hi Johan, we appreciate that you’ve taken the time to join us for this week’s game provider interview series! Please give our readers a quick introduction to Just For The Win.
Just For The Win was founded in 2016, launching the first game, Goldwyn’s Fairies, in early 2017. Our portfolio has 18 games to date with a roadmap of 12 exciting titles during 2020.
What’s your history before 2016 and how did it all start out for Just For The Win?
I’ve been with the company since its inception. After spending many years in eCommerce, I joined the founders of an iGaming startup called Leo Vegas back in 2011. That turned out to be an incredible journey for both the company and me.
Just For The Win grew from an idea to a business during the spring of 2016, when by chance I met my fellow founder, Jay Sopp, in an airport terminal in Münich.
Jay has been in the game development industry for more than 20 years, including Lucas Arts and previously Netent, and we wanted to combine our skills to create something special together.
Since then, the company has grown, and today we occupy three offices. Stockholm, Gothenburg and Kyiv.
Those previous experiences must have been a great asset when Just For The Win was founded. Besides that, what would you say is the reason behind your success?
Our exceptional employees, no doubt. We have a very talented workforce that knows the value of great games. We have many different nationalities in our studio, and everyone brings something unique to the table.
We work together to put the player experience first, and we have a lot of fun doing it!
At Just For The Win, we follow a shared passion, "We make great games faster and better." We strive to be an inclusive business where every employee counts.
This playful culture seems to work beautifully! What’s your strategy going forward?
Quality and playability.
Our strategy is focused first on quality instead of quantity. We are determined to learn from our mistakes (yes, we do make them) and to improve the product with every new title.
We want our customers to know that they can always expect high-quality content from our studio, we want them to know that they are getting a Just For The Win title.
Looking at the iGaming space, it is clear that we are up against several great providers. And we have a long way to go before we reach our own goals.
Yes, the competition and amount of releases these days have made it so much harder to stand out in the noise. Talking about game releases, what can we expect from Just For The Win in 2020?
We’ve got a lot of big titles coming out in 2020. I’m most excited for our March release, Treasure Skyland, a game about three intrepid sky captains on a quest for loads of loot. With lots of classic features in the base game and a big top prize in the pick bonus, there is a lot to chase!
I’m also really excited about our April release: Anderthals is a game about dino-riding cavemen with a tonne of random features that can trigger on every spin. It’s full of action, and when I start spinning, I can’t stop.
In June we will release a new brand, for us that is a massive release. I won’t say much, except that there are three Free Spins features and that the music is epic. Those tunes will get stuck in your head. Guaranteed.
We will be showcasing these titles during ICE London.
Exciting! What about older releases, which is your personal favourite production?
Tough question, although I would have to say Deco Diamonds Deluxe.
It’s a fantastic art deco theme with a gatsby vibe, based on our successful 2018 release Deco Diamonds, which fanbase still grows to this date.
The newly released, and polished, Deluxe version has a side bet button which enables a nudge feature, for the possibility of huge wins.
Unfortunately, our interview is coming to an end. Do you have any predictions about the iGaming industry future before we say goodbye?
Quality before quantity. That is what we are aiming for, and I hope the industry will go the same route.
Currently, the market is flooded with vast amounts of new games every week, and it is hard to stand out in the operator lobby.
This leads to difficulty for a small provider as ourselves to get the needed shelf space for our games to get player traction required.
We are discovering new ways of optimizing with every project, and we are determined to learn and improve with every new game.
We want our customers to know that we at Just For The Win deliver quality.
We’re also building an entirely new UI. We want to make sure our games look their best when played on any platform: mobile or desktop. It’s all going to look great and play beautifully.
Anything you would say to your fans or potential employees before we wrap this up?
Have fun, and keep playing, for the win!