Built to Last


Why NeverEnding Designs for the Long Game – On the Reels and Off


NeverEnding CEO Ihor Zarechnyi explains why the studio is resisting iGaming’s relentless release cycle, prioritising retention and long-term performance over portfolio volume - and how the same philosophy is shaping the company’s ambitions beyond the reels.


Ihor, in an industry that rewards speed - demanding suppliers release dozens of games every year - why has this model become so dominant, and what are its flaws?


It's a numbers game dressed up as a strategy. More releases mean more shelf space, more chances to get noticed, more lines on a pitch deck. Te flaw is simple: volume and quality pull in opposite directions. When you're shipping constantly, you stop asking whether a game deserves to exist and start asking whether it's ready to ship. Tose aren't the same question.


Has the sheer volume of releases made it harder for great games to stand out, and what does that mean for long-term player engagement?


Yes - and it's hurting players as much as studios. Portfolios are noisy. A genuinely strong game gets a week of visibility before it's buried under next month's releases. Long-term engagement isn't built in a launch week. It's built over months, and that requires a game with room to breathe, not one competing with fifty siblings for attention.


NeverEnding has released 13 games in one year - considerably fewer than many competitors. Was that always a deliberate strategic decision, and what advantages does that approach give you?


Completely. We could ship more. We choose not to. Every game we release has to earn its place — mechanically, mathematically, in how it holds a player's attention past the first session. Tat discipline is slower. It's also why two of our titles have held top positions in


92


operator lobbies for almost five months straight, not two weeks.


Your philosophy appears to favour longevity over launch-week performance. When you're developing a new title, what metrics tell you a game has the potential to remain relevant months or even years after release?


Launch numbers tell you about marketing. Retention curves tell you about the game. We look at how players return over time, not just how many show up on day one. Te clearest proof I've seen: two months into our public launch, one player logged 43 consecutive days on Ultimate Coins. Tat's not a marketing spike. Tat's a game somebody chose to come back to, on their own, day after day. If a title holds attention like that past the novelty period, that's the real signal.


You talk about designing for retention rather than simply acquisition. How different is the development process when the objective is sustained engagement instead of creating a short-lived marketing moment?


Completely different mindset. A marketing moment is designed to peak fast. A retention-first game is designed to reward depth — mechanics players want to come back to, not just react to once. It's slower to build and harder to test. But it's the difference between a game and a fireworks show.


Many studios describe every release as a success, but what evidence do you use internally to judge whether a game has delivered over the longer term?


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