Egaming industry predictions for 2017 - part 13
Quickspin's chief product officer Joachim Timmermans predicts the big themes for the year ahead
Joachim Timmermans, chief product officer, Quickspin
Retention over acquisition: Operators are currently locked in a fierce customer acquisition war, but with costs spiralling out of control, the next 12 months will see a shift towards retention instead. As part of this, operators and suppliers should dial in on gamification, and build additional gameplay elements into their products and games. Things like tournaments, missions and progress bars will become the minimum standard. But for operators looking to ensure players keep returning to their sites and games, they will have to think outside the box and come up with additional tools and features that take gamification to the next level.
VR anti-climax: The industry is very excited about virtual reality and its potential to transform online gaming. With Oculus Rift and Google Daydream View now available across Europe, I think the technology will finally enter the mainstream over the course of the year. But as it does, it will become clear that VR has no real place in the online gambling industry, except as a novelty fad. While VR is undoubtedly cool, it brings very little added value to the player experience. Instead, operators and suppliers should focus on improving the quality of their products, instead of investing heavily into what is little more than a gimmick.
The death of Flash: The new year will finally sound the death knell for Flash. HTML5 is well on its way to becoming the dominant development platform, and over the next few months it will hammer the final nail in the Flash coffin. In fact, by the end of the year I expect not a single gambling supplier to be working with the platform and for it to be consigned to the scrap heap forever. And that is because HTML5 offers so much more flexibility and scope, and allows us to push the boundaries in ways that Flash simply can’t accommodate.
Other industry predictions for 2017