For this interview, we’ve invited Aleksandar Dašić, the Product Marketing Manager at Bragg. We are talking about some of Bragg’s achievements in 2024, but also explore some of the upcoming games such as Phoenix Queen, expected to come out in late January. Read the full interview with Aleksandar below:
Hello Aleksandar. Thank you for taking the time just before the busy holiday season to sit down with us to introduce Bragg Gaming to our audience! For those of you that don't know, can you tell a bit more about Bragg Gaming?
Aleksandar Dašić (AD): Primarily we’re a content and technology supplier to the global iGaming industry, so we develop online casino games and technology used by our operator partners which players can access, play and in the case of the technology, it provides them with a great gaming experience. We’ve got multiple in-house studios developing exclusive titles, including the likes of Wild Streak Gaming, Indigo Magic and Atomic Slot lab. We also have a number of third-party content partners supplying us with non-exclusive content which we aggregate for our operator partners under our Powered By Bragg program. This includes the likes of Gamomat, Incredible Technologies, Bluberi, Sega Sammy Creation and many more.
On the technology side, we operate a range of solutions that, while players may not be automatically familiar, they may have experienced through our operator partners.
This includes cutting-edge player account management (PAM) platform and a full suite of turnkey technology solutions. Our online casino content is delivered through our Remote Games Server (RGS), but we also have a one-stop shop technology solution in the Bragg HUB. Our Fuze™ marketing and promotional toolkit provides invaluable tools for operators marketing to players, including bonuses, tournaments, quests, flash jackpots, and an AI-powered games recommendation system, all things which enhance the experience of players.
In addition, we also provide managed and operational services and support to a wide range of companies in the iGaming industry who may not have the infrastructure to do so on their own. We’re present in more than 30 regulated markets across the globe and have a portfolio of more than 10,000 titles, with fully ideated development roadmaps for content, and innovations in technology in the works for many years to come.
How challenging is it to be a successful company in iGaming today? What's your secret?
AD: It’s no secret that the iGaming industry is a hugely competitive environment, and staying one step ahead of the competition to propel success is an ongoing challenge, but it's one that Bragg as an organisation is relishing.
Part of this is down to our approach to delivering online casino content that is localised to the needs of a regulated jurisdiction, while also at the same time releasing robust and responsive technology which can be easily integrated, but is at the same time innovative in nature.
Another part of this is the development of sound strategic objectives for every facet of our business, be it from content roadmaps, to things like the recent refinement of our commercial strategy to cultivate a more regional approach, geared towards specific markets and products. Underpinning both is excellence, the drive that all of our various teams around the world work towards, and something that we hope lies ahead for Bragg in the future.
Now with the New Year's around the corner, can you brag about (pun intended) Bragg's biggest achievements in 2024?
AD: You’d be surprised how often people make that joke. It’s been a great 2024 for Bragg. On the content side, we’ve added several new studio partners, including the likes of King Show Games, while also strengthening our existing relationships with our current partners. We’ve released some great new titles, which are already proving to be successful in markets like the U.S., where we’ve significantly grown over the past year.
We’ve been recognised for our success in many awards shortlistings, and won EGR’s Slot Provider of the Year award
We’ve continued to grow our presence in our core markets like the Netherlands, where we’ve got six clients using our turnkey technology solutions and have upscaled our operations globally in many useful areas. We’ve been recognised for our success in many awards shortlistings, and won EGR’s Slot Provider of the Year award, which was a great gong to win. We’ve expanded our fantastic teams globally, adding new skills to our already amazing employee base, as well as expanding into new regulated markets.
We’re also preparing to enter the Brazilian regulated market when it opens in January 2025, opening our first Brazilian office in Sao Paulo, as well as obtaining certification on a selection of our online casino content, in advance of the new regulations coming into effect.
Let's divert a bit and talk about online slots. We've seen some amazing releases in 2024, such as Golden Gal's and Paddy O’Plunder. What can we expect to see in the upcoming year?
AD: The first four months of 2025 will see many outstanding releases by our in-house studios Indigo Magic and Atomic Slot Lab. In addition to Candy Treasures Cash Towers and Bad Bass Cash Towers, both spinoffs of the studio’s highly successful slot titles, Indigo Magic is to release the adorable Asian-themed Fortune Babies, a modern take on classic slots with 40 Hot Diamond Desire, an Irish-themed dog lovers’ paradise that is Paddy’s Pooches, a mighty buffalo-inspired slot titled Golden Horn, and finally Dega Baby, an original NASCAR-themed crash game.
Atomic Slot Lab, however, will kickstart the new year with a spectacular feature-chaining slot game titled Phoenix Queen. After that, it will continue delighting our clients’ players with Gold Gobblers fronted by an elite goblin mining team, an epic slot adventure featuring the legendary winged white stallion in Almighty Pegasus, then Paddy O’Plunder Jackpots, which is a jackpot-powered version of the studio’s big hit, and finally Panda Pots with cute panda bear cubs filling up giant pots of gold.
We will thus start 2025 with a wide spectrum of game types, themes, and mechanics, and we’re pretty positive that they will resonate with all kinds of players. On top of that, there are many other titles coming in 2025, but it’s too early to announce them yet. You can bet (we also intend our puns) that they too will deliver a big variety of themes and mechanics to please slot players better, longer, and stronger.
How does this spectacular, as you said, Phoenix Queen differ from similar games in terms of its main feature(s)? What makes it special and appealing?
AD: The game has two main features: the hold and spin and the free games feature. In other games, these two usually work separately: you can only win one at a time, and they normally don’t affect each other.
For this game, however, we’ve tried to make them work together for that extra excitement and zing. The main attraction of this approach is that the player can trigger not one, not two, but three consecutive features with one single spin.
That sounds very tempting. Can you elaborate on that? How does that work?
AD: In Phoenix Queen, free games can be triggered in two ways: independently with scatters or as a reward from the ultra hold and spin feature. When the feature is triggered with scatters, the player gets twelve or more free games with a feature multiplier of 2x or 3x and random royal symbol removal. Simple, fun, and rewarding.
Alternatively, the player can also win free games by landing six or more bonus symbols. They will start the ultra hold and spin feature first, which significantly boosts the following free games feature and makes it yield much better payouts, as bonuses from landed bonus symbols carry over to the free games feature.
The ultra hold and spin feature significantly boosts the following free games feature and makes it yield much better payouts!
While blue bonus symbols carry bet multiplier values of up to 100x the current bet and are collected at the end of the phase, purple symbols award multipliers for the following free games feature, and red symbols award one, two, or three free games each. When the ultra hold and spin feature ends, free games automatically start with royal symbol removal, 10+X free games (where X is the number of free games won from the red bonus symbols), and the sum of all multiplier values from the purple symbols.
And that’s not all! In the free games feature, you can win yet another hold and spin feature, but this time it’s played with blue bonus symbols only. In practice, this means that you could start the ultra hold and spin feature, play the free games feature that follows it, and then win a “normal” hold and spin feature as well. It’s an amazing three-feature chain that’s great for streaming purposes and can generate insane payouts as well.
What's the release date for Phoenix Queen?
AD: Phoenix Queen will be released on January 28, 2025, for .com online casinos and select European jurisdictions, including Sweden, the UK, and the Netherlands.
Lastly, if you'd like to send any holiday wishes to Bragg and AskGamblers players, the floor is yours!
AD: Well, firstly, we want to wish them a happy and safe holiday period. It’s great to come together and be with our families over the festive season, and we’ll have some great content and seasonal tournaments and contests that players can access through both Bragg and via AskGamblers.
Going into 2025, we’re working to deliver some fantastic new titles, as well as a slew of new online casino partners that our operator partners will be able to offer players. We’ve got a lot going on, but it's all things that meet our company mission, providing unmatched experiences for iGaming players.
We wish to thank Aleksandar for this awesome interview and for providing insights for us and our players about what’s happening behind the curtains of one of the world’s top iGaming companies.
