Booming Games: Innovation, Expansion and Future Plans
In a recent podcast, SiGMA’s Mark Anthony Borg interviews brothers Max and Frederik Niehusen from Booming Games. Booming Games is a Malta-based game provider and their game selection on their company website showcases 110 games at the time of writing.
?The story behind booming games
Max Niehusen, CEO at Booming Games recounts how Booming Games started as a dream and vision shared between family and friends. Fast-forward to today and the game supplier has a global reach, with 170 employees. “It’s been a very interesting journey and we had our ups and downs. We needed a couple of years to catch up and understand the industry fully”. Despite the initial hiccups, Booming Games has built a solid technical infrastructure which allows them to develop products and have as much flexibility as possible, not only in product creation but also in integration and compliance, reaching several different markets globally. Max Niehusen takes great pride in Booming Games’ success, which shows no sign of slowing down: “For the last four and a half years we are constantly doubling our performance, our revenue on a year-to-year basis”.
Presence in Latin America
Frederik Niehusen, COO at Booming Games says the company has a very strong presence in the region. He adds that as with any region, it is important to have a local presence to understand the market, the demands and tastes of the players and to be sensitive to the different cultural nuances.
“That is why we have not only invested to be very close to our clients and understand what works well in the market. We’ve also hired locals who understand the market, who speak the language …. who can can [inform] our clients on promotions and bring along a very strong network which is absolutely key to success down there”, Frederik Niehusen, COO, Booming Games
Frederik Niehusen talks about the positive outcome of their presence at SiGMA America’s, which provides the “perfect opportunity” to promote the brand and catch up with established and prospective partners. Talking about their strategy, Frederik adds that they strive to be close to their operators and understand what the players want depending on the different regions they operate in.
Innovation at Booming Games
Recent developments at the company include the quicker roll out of new games, which is now happening every two weeks instead of three, while ensuring that quality and innovation are not compromised. Max talks about the evolving Latin American region where besides slot games, which are at the core of Booming Games, a variety of other games are on the market, including games for mobile devices. With over 90 % coverage on mobile devices, Booming Games are perfectly placed to provide a full solution package to operators.
At the start of 2023, the company created an “Innovation Lab” where a team of people sit together, analyse the different markets and different regional preferences, and consequently customise a variety of games including slots and others. At the different stages of the design process, two things are key, which Max identifies as technical infrastructure and game complexity. He brings in the example of crash games, which have been very successful in recent years, and the inevitable issue of network latency. “You need to be extremely careful in the execution and production of these games” to avoid excessively “heavy” games and allow people to enjoy the games on their mobile devices. Talking about game complexity, Max says that it is essential to create games that are “easily understandable” and “attractive enough”. He adds that experience has taught them that it does not matter whether how few or how many features a game has – the bottom line is entertainment. “You can easily make a game (with a few features, a very simple math model) extremely attractive and extremely entertaining if you choose the right theme, the right music, the right math volatility”.
What sets Booming Games apart
Frederik Niehusen acknowledges the stiff competition in the industry; what sets their company apart is their ability to offer a “full solution”. Their portfolio of games caters for different players, with different tastes and demands around the globe. This is particularly attractive to operators with a global reach looking for online and land-based solutions. Booming Games are able to achieve this “by having a game portfolio in combination with all the licensing certification necessary for all the jurisdictions which our clients are operating in”.
Both brothers talk about the importance of having a two-pronged approach at Booming Games, with focusing on bringing in new players and retaining the ones already on board. The company has invested heavily in promotional and player retention strategies and the company is currently launching “Boom”, a promotion toolset connected to Booming Games. The company has rolled out bonus bins and are in the process of rolling out tournaments, which are of great relevance in the current landscape of players connected over social media.
According to the two brothers, the key to the company’s success is the “extremely professional, very experienced” team, constantly striving to grow and become one of the best suppliers in the industry.