These Are The Industry’s Best Casino Game Providers
Online casino game providers are the foundation upon which the entire online casino industry is built. Without them, casinos would struggle to offer quality, regularly-updated casino games, slots, live games, crash games and more to their customers.
However, the proliferation of casino game providers has meant that this is a particularly fierce industry, with companies battling hard to attract crypto casinos to take on their games. The good news for customers is that this means greater innovation in slot games and casino games than at any previous time in the past, with AAA releases every month.
In this post, we are going to explore all you should know about online casino game providers, what makes the best so appealing to casino owners and customers, and lastly we’ll give you a list of a handful of top providers that we would recommend given their outstanding portfolio of games.
But let’s begin with the most basic question.
What is a Casino Game Provider?
A casino game provider, or slot game provider as they are sometimes known, is a company that develops a range of casino games including slots, card games, dice games, crash games, live casino games or indeed any game that a casino offers to its customers.
They are sometimes referred to as ‘game studios’ or ‘software studios’ or similar and they are essentially one or more teams of programmers, game designers, coders, project managers etc., with the remit to design, develop and eventually release the finished product.
Individual casino software providers can partner up with one or more online casinos to offer their games on that platform. Exclusive agreements, where one studio’s products can only be found at a single casino, are increasingly rare. However, studios can, and do, make individual games for specific casinos. These can often be found in the “Originals” section of the casino site, or with Stake-exclusives like Drop The Boss 2.
However, to ensure their games are more popular, generate more income and reach a wider audience, software studios will often sign agreements with multiple casinos (or a parent company of multiple casinos) to ensure their products are as widely available as possible.
In the same way that Electronic Arts, Blizzard and Activision are big names in the console gaming industry, the likes of NetEnt, NoLimit City and Microgaming are amongst the studios that have earned a big reputation in the counterpart casino game provider industry.
What Makes The Best Casino Game Providers?
We now know what a casino game provider is, why they are necessary and what they do. So now, let’s take a closer look at the actual process of producing a brand new casino game. What is it about the top casino game providers that makes their offering so appealing to customers?
Let’s break this down into a number of key areas.
Innovative Game Design
At the heart of every game is a simple truism: the game has to be designed well. By that, we don’t just mean that it has to be based on a topic that people will find engaging; game design is much more than that.
For many casino games, the game design is decided by the game itself. Roulette is roulette, even when you add in your own theme or topic or even some additional features. However, that changes when it comes to slots as they can always be based on any subject.
Picking a popular topic always helps. This is why you will find many different game types prove especially popular when it comes to slot games. Some of the most common themes for slots include:
- Myths & Legends (Greek, Arthurian, Norse, Egyptian etc.)
- Film & TV Tie Ins
- Retro Slots (With retro-styled symbols)
- Irish-themed slots
- Jewel-themed slots
- Animals
- Space
- Dinosaurs
- Calendar Event Themed Slots (Halloween, Christmas, Easter etc.)
However, slot games can be based on any theme and sometimes, the more unusual a slot theme is, the more it can appeal to players.
That said, a slot is much more than simply how appealing its theme is. There’s a lot to consider when it comes to the full game design and this includes many of the factors we’ve outlined below.
Presentation
A key decision in the process is how the slot or game is going to be presented. Options here include offering movie-styled graphics, more dramatic options with dark and moody lighting, the use of humour and suchlike. Setting the tone for the slot should of course reflect the theme, or perhaps run counter to it.
For example, Halloween slots can vary from being unsettling and scary, but also be more humor-driven, offering nice variety to players.
Additionally, the presentation of the slot can also be based on how the reels line up (assuming reels are used). Will it be a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or more reel slot, or will it be a cluster-pays game? Will the number of reels remain the same or increase when a bonus is triggered? Will symbols remain single symbols, or can they split, or even quadruple in a single space?
Setting up these mechanics for the slot is key because once the basic theme and framework of the slot is laid out, the next thing that software studios will busy themselves with is exactly how their slot should play out.
Gameplay
The gameplay is the key function of any game. It should be fun, exciting, dynamic and eye-catching. Any game that fails to engage with its players (or a streaming audience) is not likely to have a particularly long shelf life.
The main gameplay action comes in the base game. This is the game that plays on the vast majority of spins, right up until a bonus is triggered (if a game has such a feature). The RTP/Volatility balance is key here (as we will explain below) and ensuring the game offers the right amount of risk for the right amount of reward is hugely important.
Additionally, the gameplay has to work well together. Standard spins should flow into the bonus features seamlessly, without making it feel like you are playing an entirely different game. Card games should feel like you are sitting at the table at the casino.
Slot providers aim for gameplay to engage the player to want to come back and play again by offering any casino game with huge playability and appeal. Additionally, provably fair games are also becoming more commonplace, giving more power and transparency to players.
Bonus Features
We mentioned bonus features previously and these are key as, in terms of slot games in particular, they are the main mechanism by which the bigger wins can be achieved by players. When it comes to streamers, they are also the moments that will most directly appeal to viewers as this is where the biggest casino wins can be landed.
A bonus feature has to be exciting to trigger and the mechanism should be similar, but not the same as the base game. It should also be clear what the player wants to achieve to maximise their win and also ensure that players don’t feel short-changed by triggering the bonus and only achieving lower value wins consistently.
RTP/Volatility Balance
The RTP/Volatility balance is key in how the base game and bonus features interact and payout. The RTP is a percentage of how much a slot returns to players out of its lifetime takings. The higher this number is, the generally better it is for the player — enhanced RTP slots are becoming more common.
Volatility refers to how often wins generally are paid out. Low volatile slots pay out often but in smaller amounts, highly volatile slots pay out much less often, but when they do land can pay out considerably more.
Matching the balance of these two key elements and applying them throughout the base game and bonus features of the slot will ultimately add, or detract from the gameplay elements.
Cross-Platform Compatibility
Another factor for software studios to consider is how compatible their game is. This is especially the case if a casino offers crypto casino apps for Apple or Android devices, or whether they have a standalone website that customers can access from a browser.
Frequency of Releases
The world of modern casino gaming moves very quickly so the bigger software studios will have frequent new releases of games. Some of the biggest development studios will have several teams working on individual games, and will often release several new titles every month.
Five of The Best Casino Game Suppliers
It is difficult to provide an exhaustive list of the top Casino Game providers as there are so many great providers, and in truth, hundreds of outstanding games available. However, we have narrowed down our list to focus on five slots providers that have earned a fantastic reputation for producing quality slots and casino games. We’ve also given you a list of some of the top titles for each provider which provide a great starting point to see what type of game each has to offer.
You can find out more about each provider on the dedicated pages we have on site for each provider.
Pragmatic Play
Sweet Bonanza
Pragmatic Play struck the right note with Wolf Gold many years ago and since then they have established themselves as one of the top development studios in the world today.
Top Titles
- Big Bass Splash
- Sweet Bonanza
- The Dog House
- Sugar Rush
- Wolf Gold
NetEnt
Starburst game
Known for their high production values and fabulous mix of higher and lower volatility games, NetEnt’s portfolio includes some of the most popular slot games ever created.
Top Titles
- Starburst
- Dead or Alive 2
- Gonzo’s Quest
- Mega Fortune
- Vikings
NoLimit City
San Quentin Manhunt
NoLimit City are the RockStar Games of the casino game companies. Their titles are often controversial, with darker subject matter and humour, but remain immensely playable.
Top Titles
- Tombstone Slaughter
- San Quentin
- Brute Force Alien Onslaught
- Mental 2
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Hacksaw Gaming
Le Cowboy
One of the venerable providers of slots and casino games, Hacksaw Gaming struck gold with its “Le” series of games, but have a lengthy catalogue of high quality games.
Top Titles
- Le King
- Book of Time
- Chaos Crew
- Booze Bash
- Le Cowboy
Blueprint Gaming
Fishin’ Frenzy
A studio well known for its Fishin’ Frenzy series of games, alongside a fine selection of Film and TV Tie-Ins, including the superb Game of Thrones slot.
Top Titles
- Fishin’ Frenzy
- Game of Thrones
- The Goonies
- Eye of Horus
- King King Cash
Trying Online Casino Game Providers
The casino game providers listed on this page are at the pinnacle of the industry. Each has its own unique style and can be found at multiple top casinos if you would like to try them for yourself to see what we mean. Roobet is one site that has deals in place with many of them, meaning that you can choose from hundreds of distinct slots and live dealer titles.
Ian John has been reviewing and writing about online casinos, poker, sports betting and more for over 20 years – with the last 7 spent diving deep into esports betting. A specialist in covering newly released slot titles, Ian brings sharp, informed analysis to every review. His favourite casino games are blackjack and poker.
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