Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming July 2014 36 Tech Talk are ranked by total spins, spins per session and, of course, monetization. Apps are evaluated for effectiveness. User geography and language are analyzed. Player surveys are deliberately designed to be wide-ranging. Themes and features are queried. So are graphics and even music. In December, High 5 Games launched its second online platform, Shake the Sky, a social site designed specifically for players seeking authentic Asian-themed games. Hitting the Key Notes High 5 Games is on a tireless mission to gather feedback essential to the development of successful games across land-based and online platforms T he social casino gaming market was worth an estimated US$2 billion in 2013 and is growing fast. SuperData Research predicts it could reach $4.4 billion by 2015. New York-based slots developer High 5 Games was a pioneer in cultivating social gamers on Facebook, and its High 5 Casino social gaming platform ranks as one of the top-three-grossing Facebook apps with more than 1.8 million monthly active users. More than the monetization opportunities they provide, however, those users bring High 5 Games tremendous value as strategic data collection points for creating games that will work terrestrially and in real-money, regulated online markets. High 5 Casino hosts players from more than 35 countries. The app is localized for 12 languages and 16 currencies. Game titles Shake the Sky boasts 30 titles created by Art Director Nick Chin, a Cannes Award-winning director, producer and writer who joined High 5 Games two and a half years ago. “We’ve looked for themes that are known in Asian pop culture,” says Mr Chin. “Things that they’re already familiar with that they like. We’ve got the sweeping romantic themes, the Bai She, Chang E, Wuxia traditional-type games. At the moment in China casual gaming, as in cartoon-type games, are doing very well, and we have a whole bunch of those that we’ve put together. We’ve also got a bunch of games for people who play the MMO type of games, big battle games. So we have the variety to pull all those different demographics. Because in 2016 [when the next wave of casino resorts start to open on Cotai] these people will be coming, and it’s to have the mixture in there to get them.” In December, High 5 Games launched its second online platform, Shake the Sky, a social site designed specifically for players seeking authentic Asian-themed games.