Why Full Branding Customisation is Becoming Essential for Original Games | Dominic Sawyer, Tequity

iGaming Real Talk is launching new interview series from BiS SiGMA South America. The event has matured into a perfect melting point for business in Brazil and also Latin American market. In two days, we have had conversations with leaders, experts from mature businesses in LatAm and Brazil, and we talked about the regulation as well as the state of the market in Brazil after regulation. This series is brought to you by EvoVerse.

They offer custom crypto casino source code so that you can launch your crypto casino the way you want it, and you can have full control over your margins and the product. This series is also brought to you by Blockotech, which is your go-to platform provider for LatAm market. The Blocko Padel Tour, sponsored by SiGMA, also brings together global iGaming community with sport, fun, and competition across some of the events.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of iGaming Real Talk. I'm very excited to have Don here with me who is the VP of growth at Tekkie. They are actually redefining or innovating a lot of things in the industry the way the games have been done, as well as I think they're leading in their own category with almost 17 games launched as far as I have seen the updates and many more to come. So, I'm very excited to have Don here with me.

Great. So, I'm really excited to be here with you today to talk about what we're up to.

It seems like Tekkie has managed to carve out a little niche for the brand itself from the way it launched and to now. How's it going?

It's going fantastically. I mean, I started Tekkie about 7 months ago now. The demand for originals was definitely there. Originals have been around for a good number of years with some of the big players obviously having them for 5 plus years. So, the demand was there when I started, but it's really ramped up significantly. I wouldn't say that's all to do with my presence at the company, but it really has increased the need for them really.

It's come from a mix of different reasons. One, the whole sector growing. We primarily operate in the crypto and the sweepstakes side of things. So, there's obviously more operators coming on into the arena. So, that's improved the take up from people looking for solutions. And also, I think it's quite difficult to do these games. On the face of it, originals, simple games, Bingo, how hard can it be?

But I think also some operators have done some of their own and then maybe realized in time that it's a little bit more difficult to do and to do well. Making the simple or the complex appear simple particularly from the user perspective. So, yeah, it's really grown substantially. We're on like 350 plus brands now with the originals.

So, when?

About 18 months. 18 months since the first one.

A lot of brands.

Development team would have me say there was a lot of work prior to that to get things up and running and obviously we didn't come out with 17 games. We released one every sort of month pretty much. It's been fantastic and no sign of that growing and also to being in Brazil, different markets as well. But yeah, it's been a great growth sector for the vertical, for the business rather. So, yeah, long may that continue and certainly see no sign of it slowing down.

What's really interesting for me is would you say Tekkie has pulled something like No Limit City in that era with originals?

Yeah, I mean, definitely I would like to say where we are out there in front, right? There was obviously good competition in this, very good, and long may that continue, but yeah, I think we've defined ourselves as a leader in it for a bunch of different reasons. A lot of that has come from our foundation in the RGS, right? That's the original foundation of the business that we're the intelligence company, that's where infrastructure, everything sprouts from, basically.

And all the other verticals that we're now launching, but also obviously originals, right? That's important, that's the kind of behind-the-scenes, the core back-end engineering provides all this safety, database, everything that all runs from the RGS side of things. So, we had that platform ready, so that gave us a bit of a head start. 18 months from doing the first game, prior to that we built this up back end, right?

So, yeah, and then we've kind of I think we've hit the nail on the head in terms of what we provided, this stability to brand new games and everything. So, I think yeah.

So, originals were existing before? What you have done is you have come up with the RGS engine that powers that stability, and then you have kind of relaunched some games. Is that the reasons mainly you would attribute the success?

I think so. Certainly the RGS is super, that's a paramount importance, right? You then have the front end, right? So, yeah, the games are there, the free-to-play games, there's obviously this talk about originals, you know, are they originals? Free-to-play originals, so they've been around for a while, so yeah, we've kind of executed really well.

We innovate in terms of some of the games we're coming out, and we'll talk a little bit about that more, but I think execution is as important if not more important, with originals, right? So, we've done that with the back end and then the front end. They work the front end from a user perspective, that's what they see, they don't really see what's going on back end. So, it's got to be fast, super responsive, low latency and everything.

So, that user experience has got to be and that's the expectation, right? That's what you get on the big boy sites and everything. It's instant fun. It's a joy with the crypto and the new age bets coming in. So, yeah, I think we've executed on the back end front, obviously on the front end front, and then giving the tools for those brands to configure them accordingly to make them their own product. And that's paramount importance really to have that as well.

So, it sounds like the importance for originals, fully customizable games, so to say, is only increasing. How important is it? And are you seeing that this is because of the crypto casino wave?

Yeah, I mean, well, the having that full brand and customization is absolutely paramount. It's a way to differentiate. Obviously, originals have a familiarity. People are going to get the same games. They're not original from that perspective, but there is expectation, so you need those. But the ability to make the games look and feel like the rest of the site is super important, for lots of reasons, you know. Brand is not cosmetic.

It's how people recognize and remember you, the players, you know, it's that branding is that touch point. Every experience with a brand. So, if the originals look, feel like the rest of product identity, the UI, then that affinity between the player and the brand is there. And that's more so than third-party games, you know, there's obviously a huge place for those, but that and then it's also important with streamers and things.

If they're streaming branded games, then they've got that full catalog of branded games to provide, then if with streamers like XYZ, they can do that and then their viewers are watching a game that's tied directly into that brand that they're streaming for. So, that's super important.

I think it's on the recognized and it is a skin element, but yeah, I say branding the full branding customization can be from you can get the whole branding set up in a matter of hours, you know, with logos, but to go deeper with it, we also provide that customization in terms of like some of the games are very image driven. All those images can be changed. Like we have the cross the road game.

The chicken game, you know, the chicken game.

The chicken game still. No, I only play the daily player. What, yeah, it wasn't you, you were surprised that was the most, had the most.

Chicken had the most players, unique players, not the most volume I guess you could call it.

There's some say few other favorites there, but whatever other animal you can insert here, right? So, that's possible. There's like 30 images just little bit detail for the chicken game and all those are all editable by the client. Not everyone comes in, they might change put their logos in, the cars or whatever or background of the logo and do a bit more, but you can change, some clients someone who's got a sportsbook they've turned into like an NFL game, right?

So, you're not crossing to get a touchdown type thing. So, there's loads of scope for that. It really depends on the imagination in house that you can do. And you know, so it is customization is super important. So, if you got clients got a mascot or something then that's good. So, we have that editor that they can do, you know, they can do it at will. They can do a little bit one week change add a new game totally different. We can have different instances of the same game.

So, we can have a separate instance for stream with their mug shot on instead of the mines and diamonds and stuff. So, yeah, the editor is there. One of those WYSIWYG editor what you see is what you get. They turn on, technical person can do it or like if a client wants something that's not feasible within the editor then we provide a concierge service as well to fine tune it. So, yeah, branding is critical. I think that's like part of that the back end, the front end.

That's the third missing piece that I think has been critical to the success of the originals and the success that we've had with them.

Thank you for closing that loop as we move forward in the questions. But, one of the other things that also comes to my mind, when you say 17 games are launched, are they launched through a specific studio for their brands as originals or how does it work? Just for me to get a hold of.

No, they're not through any particular studio. We have like a default template, they a base setting configurations, colors, fonts, whatever. A client can come into a link, they can choose a game, say they start with dice, right? You choose the overall general settings that covers the whole platform, all the games, right? You get that basic UI and that applies. You set that once, that applies to all the games.

You give the template and they can play with it and make it their own. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, and they see the changes live, right? They see the changes there. Add a logo and color. So, you know, if you've got a brand...

A drag and drop builder like a website builder?

It is like an old-school website builder or one of the new ones. So, yeah, it's super easy to use. So, you know, whether it's a team that hasn't got an in-house designer, just a founder, they can come in and do that.

Because when Webflow launched, it solved a big problem for marketers not having to go to the designers and developers, right?

Yeah, absolutely. It's given that, obviously there's quite small teams out there running, right? They don't have resource, whatever, time to convince the designer. But, also if there is a design team which we work with some that have got design teams of 10 or something.

And you help them as well.

Yeah, we'll help, we'll train the whole design team. Based on what you saw, what's working. Yeah, exactly. I mean, they bring the design expertise, they know their brand best and everything. But, we've obviously got a lot of knowledge from seeing 300 plus operators with their brands and what works and everything. So, yeah, it's great for any size team.

And then they tell us we're ready to go live, we'll push the button, and then they can see it in situ, test internally, make any changes at any time, update it. It's super simple. So, the kind of friction is really low on that side of things.

So, what does it actually solve for a studio or an operator? If they have to do it themselves, probably they would be spending more resources, time.

Yeah. Well, I think if they, quite often they're quite happy with some because often we talk about speed, but we also maybe speed up integration. Often you don't have time to really customize any particular game or whatever, right? So, you just want to get going. So, this is a way for anyone, if it's a non-tech non-design founder or a full team, they can go in and quickly get something up and running that looks all right on brand, right? So, that's the thing.

Now, they could do that in house, right? If they want to do more design, generally when I'm talking about more custom design, it's like the specific graphics, brights, animations that really bring the games to life for their brand. Then, of course, unless they're a designer by trade, then they're going to have to get some resource. Now, we don't do all this in house because there's not the need, but we work with some studios for particular clients.

So, we can offer that as a kind of bolt-on service. Like, we want a particular game, let's talk about maybe Towers. They've got Chicken, the dragon, we've got our own mascot, fox or something. We have a brief, so we work with a studio, so we know and if that studio knows very well because they would create the initial Chicken game and stuff. So, we can get it going pretty quickly. So, that can also speed up rather than going to another studio that's not done this before.

So, there's lots of different ways we can take someone to get the quickest and save time, save resource, save some budget to really get them up and running quickly with what they want.

So, if I have to sum it up, it's more like Shopify for game studios.

Yeah, yeah, that's. We'll use that. We'll use that going forward, yeah. Basically, yeah, it is.

You're reinventing, you're just giving them a platform where they can do their own games. Customize, get your support.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I love it, you know, when I speak to prospects, they, I always lead with the editor, right? Because it's like, okay, come people come to us because we're extremely good technically. They see our games, they work well. So, it's like the final piece of the puzzle is, okay, how easy is it for us to get it looking like we want? So I lead with the editor and they can just quickly see it's not all behind some sort of password wall.

You know, they can go away and try it out, have a play before they decide to commit with us. So, yeah, it is software for game studios.

It was on my mind for some time. When they say 17 games, and how does it work, that kind of thing. I think a lot of people that probably wondering ones have their answers now in regards to how the originals happen, how Tekkie is taking on as well. We're here in São Paulo. Brazil is an interesting market as we sit here right now after regulation. So, how do you see Tekkie is preparing for the region based on the demand as well as your own content across originals, publishing.

Are you focused on this region or what's the take?

Yeah. I mean, yeah, here it's to get boots on the ground, you know, and really find out, learn as much as we can about the market. Obviously, no, important having someone here meeting experts, particularly in a market like this, it's super important. Things are quite different in many ways, obviously, in the regulation side of things. So, yeah, here for the week meeting some local experts and our great aggregators, learn as much more.

And we do believe that the product line from Tekkie has got a strong, can have a strong footing and hold in this market. So, but we're taking steps to go there. So, yeah, expect to see a growing presence here. And then we talk about originals, they are primarily for us on the crypto sweepstakes side. But we don't see any reason why with the type of gamers out there, players, that they have got a future here.

And there's a big opportunity because they're not obviously adopted particularly strongly in the regulated market here. So, there is really a strong opportunity for us to develop that here. So, take a little bit longer because the audience, I say compared to on the crypto side, that's what they're familiar with, that's what they expect. But as audiences change and habits and everything evolve, then I think there will be really strong uptake.

So, that's the role to drive home that and see what changes lie. So, yeah, certainly the original side.

Then if you can share also the plans for Latin region in terms of any new announcements, partnerships.

Yeah, well, we've just signed the contracts with Alea. So, we're going to be going live.

Is it first on here you're announcing?

Yes. Yeah, yeah, it's first on here. So, that's breaking, good to get that one out there. So, yeah, super pleased with that.

Alea is a big one, I think they're top five in the market.

They are. And for us in this region it's hugely important stuff. So, we've met the team a lot, you know, across last few months at various expos and stuff. So, that's been fantastic and we have had interest from operators on the network. So, super pleased for that and, you know, these things take some time and but yeah, should be up and running real soon. And yeah, that will kind of help us get a good foothold in the market as well.

So, yeah, super excited to get going with them.

So, studios that work with Alea in the region will be able to access Tekkie?

Exactly. Yeah. And like, you know, because Alea's already integrated with a lot of studios because with our RGS, I should say that we do that with 30 studios now. We operate RGS for and obviously a lot of them are with Alea. So, the in terms of integration is very simple for single API. Single API. So, it's super simple to do. So, yeah, it's a bit of a flick switch and then that will apply for all our content.

Mentioned originals, yeah, we're also doing a lot on this third vertical, right? RGS Originals Publishing.

That's like, so this is not your own content. This is publishing and distributing third-party content as well.

Yeah. So, like we're looking to push that. Are they original companies? Are they not originals? Just other studios. And that content will also say is being will be super popular in Brazil. So, this is where we're leveraging the distribution network we've got from RGS with like over 100 integrations. Originals from 300 plus operator brands and aggregators. So, one I can mention which we launched a few months ago now is a studio called Mirage Gaming.

They distribute Drop the Boss game on Stake. These very popular, great increasing popularity burst games, right? So, just a different mechanic. So, it's something we're looking to distribute across our network and obviously also in Brazil. And there's the you can do custom skins. It's not originals in terms of custom skins from that, but these games can be very presented different content, different markets with the same mechanics that work across the board.

So, that's certainly an area. We'll definitely bring that into this market as well. So, yeah, that's something we're looking forward to doing.

Cool. I also have something that's very interesting side of publishing. Please elaborate. Maybe I'm not looking at it the right way. Does it conflict aggregators business model in essence?

Well, I suppose it's kind of people have asked are we an aggregator, right? I guess more of a tech proxy type thing. We don't do all the other added on services they provide and there'll be a lot of operators, providers that will want that we provide. So, we're not getting involved in treading on those toes. And our distribution can work in different ways as well. So, I mentioned Mirage Gaming. That is where they actually use our RGS as well.

So, they're using our technical infrastructure on that and then tapping into our distribution as well. So, it kind of does a different function for those type of studios that need a solution on the RGS side along with the distribution. So, that's something which I think we can provide. It's a lot of streamlined service, but we still get the benefits in the distribution if that's what their primary goal kind of is. So, we then will then tap in.

Mirage Gaming is available obviously on will be on Alea, will be on all these aggregators as well. So, they'll get the benefit of all those kind of features and network benefits as well. We also offer we also kind of do an RGS distribution as well. So, studios don't need to necessarily host their RGS with us. They could just plug their existing one into ours and then tap into this large and growing network as well.

So, certainly, not going to be perhaps to everyone, but we think there's a strong demand. And also like we're trying to find content that's a little bit different. Some can't quite announce unfortunately now that we're talking to that's different types of content. We've seen great uptake on the crypto side that we want to bring in. So, we're building our network and also growing our team on that side of things.

So, yeah, it's super, I mean something that we can leverage our sole distribution to as well.

It's quite interesting how you're positioned with the three things that you're offering: originals, RGS, publishing, which is from what I'm hearing has carved out a little niche that could be helpful for different players in different companies in B2B.

Yeah, we're taking a lot of the different audiences, right? It's all I say comes from this technology is based, infrastructure from it. That's super, that just enables us to do that and have these bolt-ons. And we're perhaps better to have tapped into some other verticals with time, but yeah, it's certainly exciting with what's going on and expanding into other markets and this is a big one.

So, long-term goal to carve out a niche in LatAm with all, you know, a lot of these supplies. In RGS if the studios, that's they're regulated ready, the RGS solution 30 plus studios that global, so that's an area for us and then originals that's something where really work starting to work on in this market.

Got the different content studios that we think first games is other types of gameplay that will be of interest a little bit innovative like those kind of things along with execution of the originals. So yeah, there's a lot to look forward to definitely.

Great. Well, Don, thank you so much for joining me.

It's been a pleasure.

Clarifying a lot of things for me as well as for the audience and also sharing your plans where Tekkie is growing in the region as well as the new partnership. So it's been a pleasure. Thank you for joining us.

Thanks very much for having me. It's been fantastic. Thank you.

So thank you for watching. Do like, subscribe as well as follow Don as well as Tekkie. Do share your comments. Thank you so much for watching.