KingWins: ‘Players should find a destination, not just a grid of games’

KingWins has launched in the US social gaming market with a product combining almost 5,000 casino-style games, proprietary Originals, player-versus-player poker and a social sportsbook. But VP of Brand & Organic Marketing, Chris Mawson, says the size of the catalog is only part of the proposition. He spoke to GamblingNews.com about the launch, and what comes next. Q: KingWins has now launched in the US. What have you tried to do differently with the product from day one? The starting point was that we didn’t want KingWins to just feel like a huge game catalog with a logo attached. Having almost 5,000 games at launch gives players real choice, but choice only becomes valuable when it is easy and enjoyable to use. We focused first on the journey: helping players understand what is available, find games that suit them and move naturally between Slots, Live, Originals, Poker and Sports. Those areas can easily feel disconnected if they are simply added alongside one another. Our aim has been to make KingWins feel like one coherent experience, where each vertical has its own appeal but the product works as a whole. That same thinking extends to the iOS app. We want the experience to feel recognizably KingWins wherever someone is playing, with the interface playing a genuine role in the brand. Q: KingWins is powered by GameBridge, a platform built specifically for social gaming. What does that give you from a product perspective? Working with GameBridge means we are building around social gaming from the outset, rather than using an experience adapted for a different audience. That means discovery, progression, community and regular reasons to return can be considered as part of the core product experience, rather than treated as additions around a games lobby. It gives us more scope to shape KingWins around how players actually engage with it and to keep developing the product as we learn what they enjoy most. Q: You have talked about wanting to move beyond the “characterless games lobby”. What do you mean by that? A lot of gaming products are functional, but once you remove the branding they can look and feel very similar. That can make the experience feel anonymous and give players little reason to build a relationship with the product itself. We think the lobby should have a clearer identity. That comes through the design, the way content is grouped, how recommendations are surfaced and how the different parts of the product are presented. The lobby is effectively the shop floor. If you have invested in great content, you need to give that content the environment it deserves, and make it easy for players to move from curiosity to something they actually want to play. Q: Does that become more important as game catalogs continue to get bigger? Absolutely. A larger catalog is only an advantage if players can find the games that are right for them. Someone may have dozens of games available that they would genuinely enjoy, but if they cannot discover them quickly, the total number available becomes far less meaningful. There are exciting studios releasing great games all the time, and we want players to be able to find them rather than defaulting to the same familiar titles. That means balancing familiarity with discovery: sometimes players know exactly what they want, and sometimes they want to open the app and be surprised by something interesting. Q: What do you think players increasingly expect from a social gaming product beyond simply having a large selection of games? Speed and simplicity are the foundation. Players have little patience for confusing navigation or unnecessary friction. But expectations around polish have changed too. People use excellent consumer apps every day, so gaming products are judged against a much wider digital landscape. The industry needs to respond to that. Content depth remains important. Our catalog includes games from suppliers such as Hacksaw Gaming, NetEnt, Red Tiger, BGaming, Playson, Novomatic and Evolution, alongside Originals, poker and social sportsbook content. But the long-term opportunity is in how all of that is brought together. Our supplier partnerships give us the content depth, while GameBridge gives us the flexibility to present that experience in our own way. Launch is the starting point; now the focus is on learning how players use KingWins and continuing to improve it around that behaviour. Q: Beyond the games themselves, how are you giving players reasons to come back? Games are the foundation, but a good social gaming product needs to feel active. We want there to be something new to discover, take part in or work towards when players return. That includes daily missions, rain events that reward the community and social media giveaways, alongside casino-style games, Originals, poker and sports. We want players to have more ways to engage than simply choosing their next game. We will continue to build around that. The strongest products give players both the comfort of familiar games and new reasons to explore.