"You’re never better than your latest release" - Interview with Fredrik Johansson, CEO & Co-founder of Fantasma Games

In four years, Fantasma Games has gone from a small group of gambling entrepreneurs to a slot studio to be reckoned with. Fredrik shares insights on their quest to create slots beyond gambling and about their upcoming release Maze Escape Megaways. As that wasn’t excitement enough, Fantasma Games also announced that they will go live with their first cluster game next year!

10.11.2020
Fredrik Johansson, CEO & Co-founder of Fantasma Games

Fredrik Johansson, CEO & Co-founder of Fantasma Games

Welcome Fredrik! Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your history in iGaming.

I’ve been working in the iGaming industry for about 10 years. Starting off with ComeOn! and LeoVegas where I was involved in establishing new markets. The idea behind Fantasma Games came from that we saw opportunities and demand for new content. The founders and I have always had a big passion for games. With background from AAA production and slots, our vision was to create a new experience for the players.

What vision did you set out with 4 years ago and is that the same today?

Our vision when we started Fantasma Games was to bring gaming fundamentals into gambling values to increase the excitement in the games. The strategy was clear – use existing infrastructure for the distribution of the games and not have our own gaming platform with licenses and compliance etc. Looking at how the gaming market grew, we expected the gambling market to take a similar path. The vision was to build an organization specialized in creating games - just games – and to rock it. We haven’t changed that vision a bit and today we call it “slots beyond gambling”.

Playing your games and looking at their positions in the casino lobbies I must say it’s very impressive what you’ve accomplished in only 4 years. What has the journey been like?

We have gone from being a small group, slightly naive, gambling entrepreneurs to a team of gambling-savvy innovators with a clear strategy and a strict focus. We work with a number of mentors coaching the team and by doing so create the conditions and environment needed for producing games that the players love.

It has been an educational, and sometimes crazy, journey but we are getting better and stronger every day.

Today, we are well equipped with a gaming process that works and distribution partners that ensure that we reach a critical number of operators on relevant markets. We have great years to come!

How did your first release Super Sumo land with the players and what were the key things you’ve learned from developing that game?

Super Sumo was actually developed for Asia but was also released in Europe because we were given the opportunity - it was a first test. From that test we learned a lot:

- A bad idea is always a bad idea - develop more prototypes and dare to put an end to bad ideas early.

- Timing is everything - work with time margins that allow for final adjustments.

- Every day is a new day and you’re never better than your latest game release.

Flower Fortunes Which of your 2019 releases are you the most satisfied with? Please motivate!

We launched Flower Fortunes in July 2019 as the first result of our new brand strategy to create slots beyond gambling. We wanted to create a slot that was completely different from our previous, even more innovative, where we really got to show our skills. We were overwhelmed with the response we’ve got. The players loved the slot and the game still delivers significant revenues.

Speaking about Flower Fortune Megaways, it’s one out of three games where you’ve utilized the Megaways engine. How would you describe these development experiences?

Medallion When we first developed Flower Fortunes the intention was not to develop a Megaways game out of it, but the more we worked on it we realized that the Megaways functionality could work out really well with the layout of the game and its features. Since then have we been exploring this possibility further and Medallion and Heroes Hunt was the outcome of it. We have seen a very high player engagement in these games, so it’s clear that the players enjoy it!

Your next release, Maze Escape Megaways is coming out next month (December the 8th). What’s this game about and what makes it unique?

Heroes Hunt Maze Escape Megaways is probably our flagship game of the year. The game is about exploration, forging your path out of the Maze, running into Athena and Minotaur on the way, and ultimately collecting Wings to “escape” the Maze with all the treasures.

The mechanics of the game is absolutely unique and fits the amazing story perfectly. Especially the core game play, the “Shifting Maze Avalanche” feature, it feels awesome whenever you hit a long win, you are guaranteed several winning avalanches and multiple chances to trigger the Athena, Minotaur features. It is mesmerizing. We are looking forward to the release and to receive the players feedback.

Do you have other upcoming titles in your roadmap that we should look forward to?

Serpent Shrine We are very excited about our roadmap ahead. First off is the Maze Escape Megaways release on the 8th of December and next up is our first Cluster game. We have very high hopes for the Cluster game which will be released in March. This will be our biggest production up to date and we think this game will make a big impression. You should also keep an eye out for Heroes Hunt 2, which is in the pipeline. On top of this we have many interesting ideas on the drawing board that we are currently exploring.

What is Fantasma’s ambition going forward?

We want to continue to do slots that are surprising, challenging and joyful for the players. We are always looking at improving our relations with the operators, but we would also like to involve the operators to get feedback in the production.

We always strive to get better, at all levels. We want to increase our reach; more players in more markets.

When it comes to games, I think it’s important (with the stubbornness of a fool) to hold on to our core strategy – slots beyond gambling.

We are very happy to have Mats Westerlund (co-founder of Quickspin) as co-owner and Senior Advisor, which of course guarantees that we will make even better games in 2021.

In your personal opinion, what do you think you can improve on looking forward?

The most important thing is to continuously raise the lowest level in terms of game performance, and if you do, you also increase the chances of sooner or later creating a smash hit.

We’d love to hear about which of your competitors that are inspiring to you and for what qualities?

There are so many good game studios out there and we get very inspired over game studios that challenge and explore new ways of improving the game experience. Nik and BTG have been especially inspiring because of how they have developed the Megaways engine and executing this mechanic on the market.

What major trends are you seeing in the slot industry today

There is a staggering trend of number of produced games right now. It’s unfortunate since this will impact games that deserve more attention to have their full potential discovered.

Our key focus is not to produce a lot of games, instead our focus is to provide the players and operators with unique content and great experience.

Do you have any predictions regarding the coming two years?

We believe and hope that games studios will continue to challenge themselves which hopefully will open up to new trends in terms of game features, but also the general gameplay.

Thanks for the chat Fredrik and we’re looking forward to playing Maze Escape Megaways! Is there anything you would like to say to our readers before we part ways for this time?

The 8th of December, save the date – bets on me!

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