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Speaking the Player’s Language: Promatic Group’s Take on Game Localization in CEE

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The Prague Gaming & TECH Summit 2025 brought together some of the brightest minds in the iGaming and tech industries – and the conversation didn’t stop when the curtains closed. As this year’s General Sponsor through its Promatic Games brand, Promatic Group made a powerful impact on-stage and behind the scenes. In a dynamic keynote presentation titled “Localizing Slot Games: Does the Central European Player Need Localized Content?”, Maciej Makuszewski, iGaming Director, and Luka Oblak, Head of Product Design, explored how cultural nuances shape player engagement and game performance across regional markets.

Now, post-event, we caught up with Maciej Makuszewski to delve deeper into the topic of localization, player behavior, and what makes content truly resonate in Central and Eastern Europe.

 

Maciej, your keynote at the Summit offered compelling insights into how culture and language affect game engagement. What do you believe is the biggest misconception about localization in the iGaming industry today?

It is that it is enough to hire a translator of a game to deliver localized content. This is not the end of the road – on the contrary – this is just the beginning. This may sound like saying the sun rises in the east, but I still would say there can be a lot more attention paid to giving games a local touch.

But coming back to translations, nowadays, even at this basic level, we can observe so many pitfalls and mistakes that could have been avoided if people really had the player at the core of their strategy. I guess we are past this time in history of globalization that unified products and content simply entered new markets with no tailoring whatsoever and there was demand for them, because there hadn’t been much of a choice of anything else. We’d like to see companies try harder when they enter new markets. I hope we will become one that actually gets the hyperlocalization just right.

 

You and Luka presented some standout cases on localized content. Could you share one example that truly surprised your team – either by outperforming expectations or revealing a cultural insight you hadn’t anticipated?

I guess that would be the transformation of a simple fruit game launched as Red Hot Jackpot in Poland, into a rich animations theme game it became in Nigeria. The nigerian version of Red Hot Jackpot is called Naija Wheels and it is the exact the same math model and game logic as Red Hot Jackpot, but what makes it appealing to the local customers of slot halls in Nigeria is its hyperlocal theme. Naija Wheels is a funny story of things you see in Lagos traffic. So instead of a Cherry symbol you have a symbol of a police officer. Instead of a plum symbol, you have an okada driver from Lagos etc.

Very different game themes, same logics, same business effects – the game is a great performing slot in Poland and a superb hit in Nigeria.

 

In your view, what are the non-negotiables when designing localized slot content for Central and Eastern European markets? Are there elements developers often overlook?

There are so many local markets in the CEE that it is really hard to unify this. But in a nutshell – we know in our region, highly volatile fruit themed games are very popular. Having said that, it is not a surfire way to success. You may want to localize the content even further through cultural and humor references.

 

The ROI of local-branded slots is often debated. Based on Promatic Group’s experience, when does it make strategic and commercial sense to invest in hyper-local content – and when is it better to focus on broader appeal?

It all depends why you do this and how you measure the ROI. If you measure a single game ROI this might be a trap. It will very much depend on the math model and features of the particular game. Apart from revenue stream, there are also costs to be considered. If we’re talking about a “game reskin” then certification will be something you can optimize and so on. There are numerous ways to tackle this issue. Sometimes you can come up with a hyper local game and just launch it somewhere else to test if it works, which will boost your revenue stream and the total ROI. All in all we are very happy with our local approach and we intend to stick to it.

 

Let’s talk about the future. With shifting player expectations and tech advancements like AI personalization, how do you see the localization strategy evolving over the next 2–3 years at Promatic Group?

I would expect this hyperlocalization becomes a commodity in the industry. This will also require a lot of human factor so that it is done the right way. AI will speed things up, but I believe that the human touch will be key. We already have amazing tools, but using them the right way is what will make a great difference.

The post Speaking the Player’s Language: Promatic Group’s Take on Game Localization in CEE appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

George Miller (Gyorgy Molnar) started his career in content marketing and has started working as an Editor/Content Manager for our company in 2016. George has acquired many experiences when it comes to interviews and newsworthy content becoming Head of Content in 2017. He is responsible for the news being shared on multiple websites that are part of the European Gaming Media Network.

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Steer Studios Joins Make-A-Wish® International’s Infinite Wishes Initiative

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– Steer Studios joins Bandai Namco, Square Enix, and 2K in supporting Make-A-Wish International’s mission to unite the global games industry for good. –

Make-A-Wish® International, the world’s leading wish-granting organization, has today announced that Riyadh-based Steer Studios, part of Savvy Games Group, has joined the organization’s Infinite Wishes Initiative, offering valuable support to help make a difference.

The funds were raised through Steer Studios first mobile title, Grunt Rush. By collecting stars during gameplay, the player community unlocked the donation, helping to grant life-changing wishes to children living with critical illnesses.

Launched in August 2025, Infinite Wishes is a global programme built to unite the video games industry. It was created in response to a growing number of gaming-related wishes from children around the world.

Steer Studios joins a growing list of partners and advisors including Bandai Namco, Square Enix, and 2K, helping shape how the games industry can make a tangible, positive impact for children who need it most.

In 2024, the Make-A-Wish International network granted more than 16,000 wishes for children living with critical illnesses.

The post Steer Studios Joins Make-A-Wish® International’s Infinite Wishes Initiative appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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New GoldenRace game, RaceDay, allows players to simultaneously place bets in several races

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GoldenRace, leading provider of award-winning Virtual Sports and betting solutions, is always reinventing its products so operators can increase their winnings and players can obtain a better betting experience.

Set to transform the way your players engage with Virtual Sports, GoldenRace’s brand-new multi-race product for Retail and Mobile, RaceDay, allows them to bet on up to six races of your choice, simultaneously, offering higher odds and increased betting volume.

Operators can select their favourites from GoldenRace’s top-quality races: Horses (in different formats with 6, 8, 10 or 12 competitors) and Greyhounds – two of GoldenRace’s more successful products- Motorbikes, Karts and Trotting. They decide which ones and how many, giving players the power to bet across all those races at once.

RaceDay highlights

  • More bets: Players can now bet on up to six races concurrently, maximising their opportunities and increasing betting volume on your platform.
  • New RaceDay market: With combination bets across different competitions in one view. This innovative market helps boost the odds and leads to more significant wins for players.
  • Stronger player growth: Higher payouts and an exhilarating experience attract more players, driving sustained growth.
  • Increased appeal: RaceDay delivers premium user experience with live video, real-time scores, upcoming events and a unique, customisable design.
  • Anywhere reliability: Thanks to low-bandwidth optimisation, RaceDay offers seamless performance and reliability on both Mobile and Retail platforms, ensuring players can “Race it all!” wherever they are.

With real-time video, live scores, upcoming events, customisable design and low-bandwidth optimisation, RaceDay blends pure adrenaline with the best user experience to unlock higher odds, bigger wins and more bets on worldwide operators platforms.

 

The post New GoldenRace game, RaceDay, allows players to simultaneously place bets in several races appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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QTech Games adds more creative content from BEON

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QTech Games, the leading game aggregator across all emerging markets, has continued to maintain the momentum in its premium pipeline, as evidenced by its latest deal with BEON, an emerging force in the slots space, whose first raft of games is crash games-focussed.

Integrating a progressive portfolio from one of the most productive and innovative developers in the sector adds more muscle to QTech Games’ proprietary platform, which is leading the way across growth markets like LatAm and Africa. In a progressive production line that will span different slots genres, BEON is also committed to launching games tailored to specific partner requests, while simultaneously growing its portfolio with a new wave of titles in development.

As a result BEON is building a reputation for creating high-quality, immersive games with standout features that set them apart in any igaming domain, thanks to a smooth performance running off agile mechanics which are dedicated to gameplay precision and optimal retention. Its first five games to be released comprise Skydot, Fury Flight, Redy, Nomad and Orizon, while BEON’s unique Crash Game Generator tool allows operator partners to launch customised content inside 24 hours.

This collaboration delivers a targeted range of localized content, enabling QTech Games to continue to meet the varied preferences of players across emerging markets, while supporting both companies’ ambitions for global growth.

Philip Doftvik, QTech Games’ CEO, said: “BEON’s initial rollout of eye-catching crash games is premised on clever mechanics, easily intelligible gameplay, high payouts and colourful graphics, which are breaking up an often-copycat environment. This kind of content is well-suited to LatAm and African markets, which directly tracks our ongoing expansion throughout these territories. These games are robust, scalable, and future-ready – so, we look forward to seeing what’s next. ”

Saba Chkheidze, Managing Partner at BEON, added: “Partnering with QTech Games constitutes the perfect opportunity for us to bolster our product distribution across emerging markets and deliver our fantastic crash games to more and more top-tier operators.

“It’s a collaboration which marks a step-change in BEON’s growth strategy across untapped markets like Latin America and Africa, where we hope our games will connect with many new players. Aside from crash games, our roadmap is packed with fresh concepts and slots titles that aim to combine engaging gameplay with solid technical performance, ensuring that our partners and players always have something new to look forward to.”

The post QTech Games adds more creative content from BEON appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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