Achieving Success in Digital Slots, Part II: Optimizing the Portfolio Mix

Successful digital slots offerings should seek to both monetize your existing players and grow your audience via slots that can be marketed effectively for new user acquisition. This requires having a strong mix of slots that balance brands, creative styles, math models, and features to achieve these goals. Operators should also optimize their slot quantities to balance cost with the need to keep content fresh for digital audiences.

Below are some of the key things to consider when designing a digital slots portfolio mix:

1. IP/brand utilization

• Operators should consider whether their audience is connected to any specific IP/brands that could drive value for their digital slots portfolio. These could be operator-owned IP/brands, brands from land-based slots (for land-based operators), or licensed IP that may be represented in another part of the operator’s portfolio. Digital slots are a great vehicle to extend these IP/brand utilizations to create greater engagement and monetization. For non-owned IP/brands, operators should consider licensing models to utilize these in their slots portfolios.

2. Math Models

• Math models are the cornerstone of the overall player “journey” during their slots session. Key considerations for math models are: payout frequency, payout volatility, and overall expected payouts over various spin counts. The best portfolios provide a mix of these options to players – some slots that payout small amounts frequently, some that payout larger amounts infrequently, and some that provide elements of both at different stages of the slots gameplay session. Math models should also be designed to retain players even when they are currently losing, e.g. with clarity on what wins are possible and with “near miss” experiences that motivate continued play while staying within the parameters of responsible gaming.

3. Features

• Slots features have advanced significantly since the days of 3-reel “classic” slots. Slots now need to compete with other forms of digital entertainment, so features have aligned closely with video game experiences, including long-term progressions, social competitions, and data persistence across player sessions. An optimal slots portfolio should include some slots with these more advanced features and some with the “classic” features, as there are proven player segments that prefer the more traditional slots experience.

4. Creative Styles and Themes

• The first thing slot players notice about a slot is its visual style. Well-designed art packages can create either "soft" visual experiences or strong, more aggressive ones. Operators should consider their user base and UA strategy to determine the best mix of these styles in their slots portfolio. Sound designs also play a key role to align with visuals, and to create the target emotional experience for the player.

5. Lobby Strategy & Design

• Effective digital slot lobbies provide at least 10 slots to start, and add a new slot at least once a month. Numbers can vary, but digital players demand content variety and regular content additions given the high number of available digital options and low switching costs. Lobby designs should also include effective visual merchandising including engaging slot tiles and intelligent slot sequencing to help steer players’ attention.

Optimizing the slots content mix, roadmap, and frequency of new slot releases has been a key driver of successful performance and ROI in our experience in both social casino and iGaming. Gameometry can help operators and studios in every stage of the slots portfolio cycle, including designing the right portfolio mix for your specific context, roadmap planning and budgeting, optimizing performance potential and ROI, and delivering slots efficiently and at the right cadence for your target audience.