Kalamba Games Condensing Entertainment
SBC Summit Malta, the newly rebranded continuation to CasinoBeats Summit, will take place June 10-12, 2025, at the InterContinental in St Julian’s. Ahead of the event, speaker
Kai Botha, Commercial Director at Kalamba Games, explores whether excessive features, bonuses, and multiplayer elements are enhancing the experience or straying too far from the classic appeal of traditional slot games.
How have the essence and nature of online slots changed since you joined the iGaming industry?
In the last five years we’ve seen two noticeable paradigm shifts. Te first is a consolidation of suppliers, with small-to medium suppliers being acquired by larger ones. Te second is a significantly larger proliferation of slots content than ever before. Casino Managers now have more games than they could possibly launch and players more games than they can play. We are inundated with content.
Accordingly, this has led to far greater competition in the industry than ever before. Suppliers are now under more pressure than ever to differentiate themselves either through means of markets, acquisitions, M&As or in their content/product strategy. Te ‘classic’ slot theme still endures but now with more features than ever so as to attract new/younger customer basis.
How are videogame-style mechanics altering the core appeal of spinning reels and chance? Is feature creep diluting the “quick pick- up” simplicity that made slots accessible to casual players?
I don’t see it as a zero-sum game, if anything innovation should lead to an expansion of the player base, in that there is ‘something for everyone’. Tere will always be a market for classic video slots but the demographics of players are changing. Te industry should always look to evolve and better itself, especially when appealing to new player bases like the ‘TikTok’ generation. I believe this new younger audience is looking for simpler, instant-win kind of games that are feature rich; giving them more chances to win but more importantly, to win more frequently! Accordingly, I see the traditional player experience becoming more condensed in the future.
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Are we witnessing a true genre fusion, or a marketing reskinning of traditional mechanics?
Its a bit of both. Due to the massive surplus of games, each supplier is trying to ‘out build’ the other, creating more content. Accordingly, a lot of this content is ‘re-skins’ by the simple fact that games now need to be developed at a much faster rate than before. However, new genres or product development like ‘gamification’ allows for suppliers to differentiate themselves; which is critical in today's hyper competitive market.
How do bonus rounds with narrative hooks impact session length and player retention compared to classic free spin bonuses?
Free Rounds in general are always going to be a great way to drive acquisition or retention, with or without narratives. Without getting too specific, ‘gamification’ has without a doubt been a significant driver of growth for Kalamba Games. Whether it be in-game features like ‘buy-bonus’ or ‘Hyperbet’ or even our in-house promotional tools like ‘Kash Drops’ or ‘Progressive tournaments’, we have seen considerable uplift in our growth trajectory over the last two years, specifically thanks to innovations in this space.
Are the development costs of intricate features and new mechanics justified by uplifts in engagement and revenue?
Te short answer is, yes. But it depends a lot on how your back office is built. Our Backoffice functions in such a way that it is very scalable, making it easier to develop products at limited cost and time. For example, in the last two years we have developed and launched three groundbreaking promotional tools in quick
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