Background on Software Providers
Net Entertainment, Microgaming and Playtech have been dominating the industry in 2016 while 888 Casino decided to focus on uniqueness -on top of providing games from outside online gaming software companies, they also develop some of their software in-house.
- Microgaming: Microgaming casino games are the most popular among New Zealanders and are characteristic for their somewhat older looking and less modern design. Microgaming is one of the oldest casino software providers- founded back in 1994 with a reputation for being reliable and safe.
- Net Entertainment: Often abbreviated to Net Ent, they are one of the biggest casino software providers today, providing games for many of the most popular online casinos. They offer more modern games than Microgaming with their games clearly looking to be different and more in line with the 21st century standards of graphics, design and animation.
- Playtech: Playtech was established in 2000 and quickly became one of the industry leaders powering many of the industry’s biggest sites. Clearly trailing both Microgaming and Net End, they do find themselves third in the lineup of casino software providers and are a safe bet for casinos looking to expand their offering with some new and fun games.
- 888 Gaming: Cassava, the company behind the 888 brands is one of the most powerful in the online gambling industry and as such decided to become a casino software provider themselves, limiting themselves to powering 888 Casino only. As such, 888 Casino offers unique games on top of games from other providers which provides a special and attractive user experience.
Major Differences In Graphics And Design
Both Microgaming and Playtech offer for the most part fairly classical looking games without too much flashy animations and extreme graphical effects. A vast majority of pokies by these two companies look pretty much like the same game, with the symbols on the board being basically the only difference.
Net Ent on the other hand do their best to make as many of their pokies as they can unique and different than the bunch by introducing fun new features or replacing the standard pay lines with something more interactive. While Net Ent’s progressive thinking is commendable, more players prefer the old style video pokies by the likes of Microgaming and such games still get more active users that the modern Net Ent games.
888 Casino’s own games are also fairly modern and interactive in design and animation and they may be the most advanced and sleek of the bunch.
Overall speaking, you could say online casino games can be split into old and new with neither really having the upper hand.
Renting Out Software
As we already mentioned, it is a standard in today’s online gambling industry for online casino companies to rent out software from online gambling casino providers instead of creating their own. This is done by purchasing licenses from the casino software providers who create their games often by buying rights from famous TV shows or events such as Game Of Thrones or NHL and making their games revolve around these themes.
This drags even more players in as people prefer playing games that are motivated by their favorite characters, movies, TV shows or sporting events as opposed to games motivated by other motives. This way the online casino software providers and the online casinos share their costs and both play a major part in the industry.
Many casinos rent out the same games from the software providers, which is why you will often see the same pokie or roulette wheel at multiple online casinos. Many new online casinos also rent out games from multiple software providers which makes for a good diversity in a single online casino, like Casinoland.
So... What Do The Casinos Do?
Online casinos try to make themselves unique by providing a better environment, better support, faster and more extensive banking options or unique bonuses and promotions to lure players in.
