Recently, negative statements about the NetEnt developer have often been heard. Someone says that they have rolled back from the leading position to almost tenth place and the like. I personally don't understand this negativity. Much more noticeable, in my opinion, is the decline of Microgaming in the field of creating slots and their decision to cooperate with inexperienced studios that cannot produce interesting games.
Perhaps in view of this criticism, one of the NetEnt employees decided, so to speak, to go out and ask the players what they like or dislike. This employee was Games Product Director (most likely the director of game development), who is registered on the Casinomeister forum as burgstrom. The screenshot below is an excerpt from his post on the forum. It translates as:
- What are we doing that we should stop doing?
- What are we doing that we should keep doing?
- What we are not doing but should be doing ?
- Features in games you like and don't like.
- Our game interfaces and experiences that drive you nuts for good or ill.
The representative immediately answered one popular question of late. It concerns the variance of the Dead or Alive slot. The fact is that not so long ago the developer launched this slot in HTML5 format. After that, rumors quickly spread that the slot was reconfigured for more small wins and fewer big ones. To this, a NetEnt employee replied that the math of the slot has definitely not changed.
One user asked if Starburst is really as popular as they say. This question was also of interest to me, since the slot machine does not seem so special in terms of return or showiness. However, a NetEnt representative said that according to the data he has, this is indeed the most popular online slot machine.
As for what I didn’t like, there was a remark that when the bonus round is activated, instead of free spins, the player can get a cash prize, as is the case with Fairytale Legends and many other slots. The player noted that he did not like it. Instead, he suggested making fewer bonuses. The representative of the developer found this idea interesting. If other users support it, maybe NetEnt will reconsider this possibility in the future.
It was also discussed what many players have been dissatisfied with lately - small maximum win. But apparently, the developer has already listened to this dissatisfaction. He recently released the first slot that comes with his MAX counterpart. MAX versions of some games will be released in addition to the main ones. They will differ only in higher variance, when winnings fall less often, but you can get larger amounts.
In response to a comment about the low max wins, a representative asked playerswhat would be the ideal score for them to play the slot regularly. On this account, he joked that the problem is that slot machines cannot constantly give out large winnings, unless, of course, they are connected directly to the bank account of Elon Musk (a well-known investor, engineer and creator of SpaceX).
There was also a wish to remove some of the games released in 2012-2013 such as Steam Tower, Theme Park, Jackanory and bring back Trolls and South Park.
Conclusion
The mere fact that a studio representative went out to the players to listen to them is commendable, especially at a time when dissatisfaction with their activities has grown. Casinomeister users have provided a lot of useful information about what should be left, added or removed. And this topic is likely to be open for a long time.
I think that NetEnt will listen to the opinion of the players. And in the future, perhaps, such discussions will be held not only in one forum, but in many others. Yes, and it would be nice for other developers to contact the players. At least they can get valuable advice, as they say, first-hand.
