Why casinos invest in their own studios

In modern iGaming, it is not the one who has "more games" who wins, but the one who controls the content and turns it into a repeatable economy. Therefore, more and more operators are launching their own studios - from compact teams for 1-2 releases per month to full-fledged portfolio labels. Below - why do it, how to arrange and what P&L converges on.

1) Strategic reasons

1. Window differentiation

Own IP and series give exclusives, early windows, local themes. Card CTR and retention grow without endless traffic purchases.

2. Margin (ETR)

Part of the royalty remains "in the house." Fewer external commissions → higher effective take rate on channels, especially on constant hits.

3. Road map control

Releases are synchronized with seasons, tournaments, marketing and geo-outputs - no need to wait for external priorities.

4. Compliance and speed of certifications

Own market builds and a "pipeline" of references/locales → faster entry into markets and updates under regulation.

5. Data & R&D

Direct access to the event layer ('stake, win, spin_type, game_id, build_hash, ts_utc') speeds up product iterations and A/B on the showcase.

6. Bargaining power

The presence of their hits improves the conditions of external providers and aggregators (feature, discounts, prize pools).

2) Where the "inhouse studio" especially pays off

Regulated markets: you need a discipline of RTP profiles, references and fast rearranged.

Large catalogs: 5-10 own "anchors" noticeably move retention and LTV.

Active CRM/affiliates: regular releases give reasons for tournament series and content campaigns.

Branded collaborations: Align faster within the same legal loop.

3) Orgmodels: Small to briefcase

Mini-studio (pod): 10-15 FTE, 6-12 releases/year. Fast start, low CAPEX.

Label (casino-branded label): 2-4 pod teams, different mechanics/themes, 2-4 releases/month.

Publisher/Powered-By: your RGS/promo/certification + external micro-studios. Scale of releases without loss of control.

Shared services: RGS/DevOps/SRE, Compliance & Legal, BI/DWH, promo module (tournaments/freespins/jackpots), LQA/localization, art outsourcing.

4) Economy: "do it yourself" vs "buy"

Costs (slice):

Team Foundation (GD/Math/Client/Server/Art/QA/Prod) + outsource art
Certification/Labs, Localization, LQA
Hosting/CDN/SRE, security (WAF, anti-tamper)
Promotional pools (tournaments/jackpots), release marketing

Effects:

Reduction of external royalties → ETR↑
Stable LTV due to series/franchises
Compliance flexibility and less downtime for regs

Payback rule: inhouse studio "converges" if you are able to keep 2-3 "anchors" in the top shelves of the showcase and rhythm 2-4 releases/month (total by labels), converting A/B insights into CTR/retention.

5) Process foundation

RGS/Game Platform: wallet (debit/credit), idempotency, seed/nonce replay, batch-events.

Market builds: matrix of'game_id × country × rtp_profile × build_hash', auto-validator of compliance to certificates and references.

Promotools: tournaments, missions, drops, free spins, jackpot framework; Showcase/Affiliate SDK.

Observability/SRE: p95/p99 spin-latency, error-budget, RTP/bonus-freq alerts, WORM logs.

BI/DWH: raw event stream, cohorts, LTV, ROI promo/affiliates, ETR by channel.

6) Development process (greenlight)

1. Pitch (1-2 pages) - hero feature, volatility hypothesis, references.

2. Concept (2-4 weeks) - paper math, prototypes, compliance risks.

3. Vertical Slice (6-8 weeks) - rhythm, win-bands, first 10 minutes of fan.

4. Production (3-6 months) - implementation, locales, market builds.

5. Soft-launch - 1-2 geo/operators, editing UI/frequencies within the range.

6. Global Launch - tournament cycle, jackpots, A/B showcases.

7) How your own content is "sold" inside the showcase

Series/IP: the same visual DNA and mechanical continuity → higher than CTR and cheap re-activation.

Release calendar: weekly/fortnightly releases to CRM rhythm.

Network promos: prize pools, missions, seasonal collections; dedicated "franchise of the week" shelves.

Cross-promo: live response and RNG response within the same topic, collections "on mechanics/volatility."

8) KPI and quality control

Revenue/portfolio: contribution of own games to GGR/NetWin, ETR by channel.

Hits:% of top 3 games revenue, long tail (6-12 months).

Product: CTR cards, Retention D1/D7/D30, first 10 minutes of involvement.

Quality: p95 spin-latency, error-rate, RTP/frequency anomalies, proportion of "elastic spins."

Compliance: time-to-market by market, conversion rate, LQA defects.

9) Risks and how to remove them

1. Inertia mechanic → incubator of "feature-heroes," quotas for experiments, external mini-studios (publisher-model).

2. Compliance debt → market builds automation, build _ hash registry, help templates.

3. Single point of failure (RGS/CDN/jackpot) → multi-region/DR, operator folbacks.

4. Shelf cannibalization → rotation, volatility/topic balance, "similar" limit in top sections.

5. Underestimation of the post-release → constant live ops (tournaments/missions), RTP/frequency alerts, weekly review showcases.

10) Team (minimum stable roster)

Producer/PdM (owner of the P&L game)

Game Designer + Mathematician
Client Dev (HTML5/Unity) + Tech Artist
Server/RGS Dev
QA/Automation + LQA
Compliance PM
BI/Analyst

Pods model: autonomous teams for 1-2 games, common shared services - for RGS/Serts/BI/Promo.

11) 30-60-90: Launch Roadmap

0-30 days - foundation

Build vs publisher solution (1 pod in-house + 1-2 external mini-studios).

Raise the minimum RGS contour: wallet, events, replay, market builds templates.

Select two IP lines: (a) evergreen with mild volatility, (b) experimental mechanics.

31-60 days - content and compliance

Vertical Slice by two games, math final.

Start of serts (priority markets), LQA and references/age-labels.

Integration of promotools: tournaments/missions/freespins, jackpot framework.

61-90 days - go-to-market

Soft-launch for 1-2 operators/geo, telemetry and UI/frequency edits (without changing serts).

Banner whale, grid picks, early access 1-2 weeks.

Tournament series, cross-promo with live/jackpot shelf, KPI dashboards and alerts.

12) Checklists

Engineering/Compliance

Contract-first API, idempotency 'spin/debit/credit/jackpot'
Matrix of'game_id × country × rtp_profile × build_hash', auto-validator
WORM logs and replicas, p95/p99 metrics and RTP alerts/frequencies
Laba Pack: RNG, Math, Logs, UI/RTS, Locales

Product/GTM

Two series (evergreen + hero feature)
Promo SDK (tournaments/missions/drops) + anti-abuse
Banners/trailers/demos, streamer kit
A/B showcase calendar and "first 10 min" metrics

Economy

ETR by channel, contribution of own games
Serte/release cost, time-to-market
Tournament/Jackpot ROI, Prize Money Caps
Team Bonus Matrix (NetWin/retention/CTR)

13) FAQ short

Can you do without your own studio? It is possible, but more difficult to maintain differentiation and margin - key shelves will depend on external priorities.

What if there is no budget for a full RGS? Start with a publisher model: your promo/compliance/showcase + external mini-studios on your pipeline.

Will this "eat" the focus of marketing? On the contrary: regular releases provide a stable CRM calendar and affiliate reasons.

Investing in your own studio is investing in storefront economics: IP and release control, ETR growth, flexible certification, strong promo stack and fast R&D on data. Start with a small but disciplined core - pod command, minimal RGS and two series - and turn content into a sustainable competitive advantage that you can't buy with a "ready-made package" in the market.