NetEnt Open Questions

[goatwack]

I think the Netent rep is straining under the weight of our magnificent answers.

After the extended weekend break, I think he took our feedback to Netent HQ, where they took one look and arranged for him to 'take a little ride'......

 

[colinsunderland]

I find this a very interesting comment and after looking to the quoted messages and answers from Net ENt, which I did quickly (shall do it again) I couldnt see your comment was answered.

We do have more and more customer complains regarding the same issue. When I try to reproduce, I cant seem to experience the same issue as our customers describe.

I'll chime in here a bit

I have a very old (10 years+) dual core pc that I cannot even load many Netent games on. Guns'N'Roses for example, when VS's used to have it as the 6.15 Sunday battle, I did a test to see how slow it actually was on that PC, from the start of the battle at 6.15 to it ending at 7.45, I managed to play 14 spins. It took over 30 minutes to load the game before actually having one spin. The same can be said for most Netent new releases from the last couple of years. I also have an i3, 16GB RAM, that struggles with most, at best it works but very slow. My 5th Gen i5 with 16GB RAM copes ok, but still not fast as such, I've tried a couple on an i7 with 32GB RAM and they play MUCH better.

@burgstrom as much as I know you have to make your games 'pretty' do you really need a resource hugging movie at the start (which I'll bet no one watches) and can you not at least put a lower quality version available for those who haven't just spent £2k on a gaming rig to be able to play slots? You don't see Netflix ONLY offering 4k content as they would lose 80% of customers overnight, the quality is auto adjusted as to the connection speed and the processing power of the device you are watching it on, can you not do similar, or at least have a checkbox to select Quality: Low, Medium, High?

I'm not really going to comment on the games themselves, I like your older stuff, newer stuff in my opinion is not anywhere close to what I like playing. Playing for hours and getting a max 50x win just doesn't do it for me, but do understand it does for others. For reference the last game I enjoyed from you was Jungle Spirit but I don't even play that any more as it seems like you go months without a bonus now, thats another thing that happens, new game comes out, pays ok, 2-3 months later, totally different game. I'm not talking about winning all the time, but at least getting a decent gameplay session out of a slot would be nice.

One more thing I'll comment on, what is the point in having the 'Don't show this again' checkbox at the start of every game, when it NEVER works on any game and never has?

Sorry I know its negative but you asked for feedback and I've tried to give feedback that I think will apply to most people rather than just me personally (apart from the payouts bit)

 

[lockinlove]

Im confused to netents decision to pull out of Canada. It doesnt make sense and it should be easy to return. Do you see all these other slot providers pulling out, no. We cant play novomatics here because they have a deal in place with the land based casinos. You do not.

Has any of the other providers here gotten in trouble? Not even a little bit. Its not against the law here and there has never been a case where a software provider has ever been threatened or gotten in trouble. So whoever is in charge of these decisions must be some sort of drama queen that pulled them out of our country for absolutely no reason. So not sure you why you like to lose business to an entire country for basically no reason at all. But I think its time someone walked into netent office and told them to get a grip lol

Thanks for being here by the way.

 

[shaltar]

Im confused to netents decision to pull out of Canada. It doesnt make sense and it should be easy to return. Do you see all these other slot providers pulling out, no. We cant play novomatics here because they have a deal in place with the land based casinos. You do not.

Has any of the other providers here gotten in trouble? Not even a little bit. Its not against the law here and there has never been a case where a software provider has ever been threatened or gotten in trouble. So whoever is in charge of these decisions must be some sort of drama queen that pulled them out of our country for absolutely no reason. So not sure you why you like to lose business to an entire country for basically no reason at all. But I think its time someone walked into netent office and told them to get a grip lol

Thanks for being here by the way.

I'm not 100% sure about it but the main raison why I think they pulled out was that they sign a deal with BCLC (The British Columbia Online Casino) I guess in the conditions there was a ''don't allow Canadian to play elsewhere than here '' or something... Take for exemple IGT or WMS that we're able to play on our Governement Casino in Quebec Province but nowhere else. Recently lots of Casino have pulled out NextGen provider slots from Canada. 2 weeks ago the first NextGen slot ( Gorilla go Wild ) appered on the Governement Online Casino.

 

[slotmaster]

Im confused to netents decision to pull out of Canada. It doesnt make sense and it should be easy to return. Do you see all these other slot providers pulling out, no. We cant play novomatics here because they have a deal in place with the land based casinos. You do not.

Has any of the other providers here gotten in trouble? Not even a little bit. Its not against the law here and there has never been a case where a software provider has ever been threatened or gotten in trouble. So whoever is in charge of these decisions must be some sort of drama queen that pulled them out of our country for absolutely no reason. So not sure you why you like to lose business to an entire country for basically no reason at all. But I think its time someone walked into netent office and told them to get a grip lol

Thanks for being here by the way.

Amen!

 

[syntynyt]

@notent keep it up whatever you're doing, to press start and see the balance approaching zero with no chance of recovery let alone winning you call it BETTER GAMING. funny that you ask the players in a desperate manner rather than asking your beloved friends with which you sided for years, the casinos which greatly benefited from the crap you release, which games are the most played nowadays then work yourself out from there as what the players wants. your s.o.s. call here is embarrassing. rebrand yourself, do mobile apps, videogames targeted at 3+ considering the graphics, anything but dealing directly with money. i said it before, your pay-per-view nice graphics games are a fraud so you need to fail. fingers crossed.

 

[Steviedoo]

@notent keep it up whatever you're doing, to press start and see the balance approaching zero with no chance of recovery let alone winning you call it BETTER GAMING. funny that you ask the players in a desperate manner rather than asking your beloved friends with which you sided for years, the casinos which greatly benefited from the crap you release, which games are the most played nowadays then work yourself out from there as what the players wants. your s.o.s. call here is embarrassing. rebrand yourself, do mobile apps, videogames targeted at 3+ considering the graphics, anything but dealing directly with money. i said it before, your pay-per-view nice graphics games are a fraud so you need to fail. fingers crossed.

Wow.
A bit harsh.

And some of you were complaining about scaring the reps away on the dangate thread. Jis saying.

There is nothing constructive in your feedback here. Actually it’s not feedback it’s just word vomit.

 

[Steviedoo]

Im confused to netents decision to pull out of Canada. It doesnt make sense and it should be easy to return. Do you see all these other slot providers pulling out, no. We cant play novomatics here because they have a deal in place with the land based casinos. You do not.

Has any of the other providers here gotten in trouble? Not even a little bit. Its not against the law here and there has never been a case where a software provider has ever been threatened or gotten in trouble. So whoever is in charge of these decisions must be some sort of drama queen that pulled them out of our country for absolutely no reason. So not sure you why you like to lose business to an entire country for basically no reason at all. But I think its time someone walked into netent office and told them to get a grip lol

Thanks for being here by the way.

Word.

 

[Harry_BKK]

@burgstrom

The following are my personal opinions based on the reviews / gameplay of Netent games. I see many CM members have already raised most issues, hence, I'll try to add a few.

1. First, man, would I miss DoA... that for me is to this day your absolute hit slot. Simple and so full of suspense at the same time. Your commercial numbers might say different things though.
2. Please work on a sequel to DoA, a good one at that. Don't do another Cluster Pays or any other hybrid. Swipe&Roll is a good example how you can transfer the good ol' reel slots into the 21st century.
3. You misssed a huge opportunity to design a head-turning Twin Spin sequel. Those tepid graphics and the rather insurmountable challenge to hit a big win on Twin Spin Deluxe saw that slot disappearing instantly from the front pages at the casinos. Tip: for some inspiration spin yourselves or ask your designers to do so on Rainbow Ryan a few times.
4. Double Stacks - really? Just finished the review and it isn't very positive. Yet another Starburst/Twin Spin Deluxe slot where the full screen of top symbols will never be seen. At least you cranked up the max win to 1,000x bet.
5. In four years of playing Netent games extensively, I have at the rarest of occasions been able to recover to my starting balance after losing more than 150x my bet. Doomed every time. It get's very difficult even at losses of just 100x bet. The funny part is that on most sessions where I would get ahead straight away, it would keep me ahead for a long time. How can your math model be so skewed? I leave now Netent slots latest at a max. loss of 150x my average bet because it is pointless to chase the losses. The potential just does not seem to be there like on slots from other providers.
6. Jumanji is a good example of a well-made and entertaining slot. Plenty of features, crisp animations etc. all good. But, 36 paylines on a 3-4-5-4-3 grid? Who thought that would be a good idea? And then the win potential gives it the final blow. 504x bet is not something to shout about. The slot is probably popular with recreational players, fans of the movie etc but I can't see it being played a lot by avid slotters. I know I haven't after doing the review.
7. General Netent math model: why are pretty much all your slots going like: no win - no win - no win (repeat 10 - 20 times) - small win but not covering the bet - no win - no win - small win but not covering the bet - no win - no win - no win - finally a win that pays at least the bet - no win - no win (repeat 10 - 20 times) - finally a bigger win, maybe 5x to 10x bet - then almost guaranteed minimum 10 dead spins in a row. There is so rarely some sort of streak of bigger wins (exceeding the stake size). Generally, any big wins are wiped out first before there might be another good hit.
8. Archangels Salvation - what a wasted potential. You finally tried to be creative with an unusual reel format and blew it completely. Plus the 375x max win in a single spin is for babies but not serious slot players.
9. Asgardian Stones - good concept and could have been a second Gonzo's Quest. Hitting finally that bonus wheel and getting then some meager coin wins blows the whole potential of the slot.
10. Pointless animations: Why on earth is a wild expanding on reel 5 when there is no win on the spin (just a general example)? Or on Double Stacks, every symbol has its own sound when it lands in full stacks to then double the symbols. So on a spin with three different full stacks it goes like "ding, dong, dang" and there is simply now win. And that happens rather annoyingly often. Plus all double stacks have animations before the spin stops to actually reveal if there is a win. Do animations but keep them mostly for the events where the spin actually produces a win.

Final words: your games are overall not bad but IMO you went too far towards "family entertainment". Understandable, but then even your HV games like Jungle Spirit or Warlords are not getting the credit they deserve because hardly any serious slot player will try them too often because they have the "family entertainment" verdict in their heads.

E.g. I can chuck 50 bucks into many of your latest slots, put it on autoplay with minimum bet and just see how the balance disappears with lots of "bruhaha entertainment" in between. There is just no feeling that I choose to play the slot to win big or even just score considerably big wins.

 

[TheAddict]

Harry just got it spot on, and thats coming from someone who only plays nett ent slots - with a bit of book of dead thrown in for balance. My play from netent only ever consists of DOA, piggy R, reel steal and on the very rare occasion jungle spirit, warlords, twin spin or jatb.
Have not spent £0.01 on any of the other releases unless it was forced wagering from free bonuses etc. Already seen and heard enough.

 

[CasinoNinja]

One thing you DO well, is the interface. You got the best bet system on the market very customisable that no other provider can match and you got a volume slider! I really do miss that feature from other providers where the sound is either off or on.. not anything in between unless you want to fiddle with the volume mixer on your computer..

 

[Casinomeister]

@notent keep it up whatever you're doing, to press start and see the balance approaching zero with no chance of recovery let alone winning you call it BETTER GAMING. funny that you ask the players in a desperate manner rather than asking your beloved friends with which you sided for years, the casinos which greatly benefited from the crap you release, which games are the most played nowadays then work yourself out from there as what the players wants. your s.o.s. call here is embarrassing. rebrand yourself, do mobile apps, videogames targeted at 3+ considering the graphics, anything but dealing directly with money. i said it before, your pay-per-view nice graphics games are a fraud so you need to fail. fingers crossed.

WTF? Good way to chase away someone who is contributing to the forum and to the player community overall by making himself open to questions and suggestions. If you can't be respectful towards your fellow members, then there are other forums that welcome that sort of behavior. This forum is not one of them.

You have received several warnings about troll posts. Consider this warning your last.

 

[gambyx7]

To be honest, I think Netent was one of the most exciting developers with excellent sound, graphics and ideas, but with strange variance and payouts.

Some of your last editions like Fairytale legends Mirror, Finn and Swirly spin, Lost Relics are so cruel, very easily you can start session 30 dead spins.

The Motorhead slot session was one of the most brutal experiences I ever had, balance killer.

Twin Spin - please make version where you can get all symbols full screen and not just card symbols, you could even introduce free spins rounds with triple spins as default. Put the wild on the first reel too.

Don't make cluster slots, make megaways.

In some games you have very strange pay lines (Steamtower, Driver multiplie...), I dont undrstand why many Netent slots don't have "climbing steps" lines.

As many said, overall jackpot of your games is quite low, but the base game is very tough. I mostly play MG slots and and many of them have at least 3000-4000x max pay.

 

[dunover]

To be honest, I think Netent was one of the most exciting developers with excellent sound, graphics and ideas, but with strange variance and payouts.

Some of your last editions like Fairytale legends Mirror, Finn and Swirly spin, Lost Relics are so cruel, very easily you can start session 30 dead spins.

The Motorhead slot session was one of the most brutal experiences I ever had, balance killer.

Twin Spin - please make version where you can get all symbols full screen and not just card symbols, you could even introduce free spins rounds with triple spins as default. Put the wild on the first reel too.

Don't make cluster slots, make megaways.

In some games you have very strange pay lines (Steamtower, Driver multiplie...), I dont undrstand why many Netent slots don't have "climbing steps" lines.

As many said, overall jackpot of your games is quite low, but the base game is very tough. I mostly play MG slots and and many of them have at least 3000-4000x max pay.

Unfortunately that would be unworkable as all that extra big-win potential would need paying for elsewhere. It could only work by significantly reducing win frequency and symbol pays, if not it would give more dead spins than Jungle Spirit and be unplayable. There's only so many ways you can juggle or distribute a 96.5% RTP. Given that full-screen wins only occur in 4-reel (rarely) and 5-reel join-ups you'd have to remove a significant portion of base game RTP over to the rare 5-reel joins and this would make the game colossally bad in standard spins without join-ups. I'm sure there IS a way they could do it though, like BTG have done with Bonanza and Netent themselves have done with Dead On Arrival whereby the base game pays at over 70% to make it sustainable.

P.S. I have met Netent a few times at various exhibitions and they are aware of my opinions and views on my new slot videos and did shake their heads when mentioning 'Netent Variance' - apparently that's a myth. To that end I think the guy here has been made aware of me and been told to avoid me, so I'll just chip in when the other forum members mention something which I would have done, such as Harry's excellent post above.

 

[goatwack]

I don't think we should ever have a sequel to DOA, that's crazy talk

That's like having a sequel to the Mona Lisa

 

[colinsunderland]

Another quick question, and not specifically aimed at NetEnt, but you might know the answer, why do games producers never sue each other for blatant copyright stuff. Like when one provider just clones another game, especially when it uses even the same type of symbol?

 

[goatwack]

Another quick question, and not specifically aimed at NetEnt, but you might know the answer, why do games producers never sue each other for blatant copyright stuff. Like when one provider just clones another game, especially when it uses even the same type of symbol?

It's probably hard to prove in court who saw dolphins first

 

[Gaz237]

@notent keep it up whatever you're doing, to press start and see the balance approaching zero with no chance of recovery let alone winning you call it BETTER GAMING. funny that you ask the players in a desperate manner rather than asking your beloved friends with which you sided for years, the casinos which greatly benefited from the crap you release, which games are the most played nowadays then work yourself out from there as what the players wants. your s.o.s. call here is embarrassing. rebrand yourself, do mobile apps, videogames targeted at 3+ considering the graphics, anything but dealing directly with money. i said it before, your pay-per-view nice graphics games are a fraud so you need to fail. fingers crossed.

Surely this post should be removed.

It's nothing but a tirade of abuse.

I'm sure the Netent rep has no desire to read it

 

[Reelsoffun]

Another quick question, and not specifically aimed at NetEnt, but you might know the answer, why do games producers never sue each other for blatant copyright stuff. Like when one provider just clones another game, especially when it uses even the same type of symbol?

Because they all do it to some extent, so unless there is a clear breach of copyright / trade mark / patent etc that can be easily proved and assessed for damages its too costly to pursue.

 

[gambyx7]

Unfortunately that would be unworkable as all that extra big-win potential would need paying for elsewhere.

I understand, but maybe it is time for Netent to make their version of IR, some kind of slot(s) which would make them and players happy.

MG has plenty 243 slots with full screen wilds potential which is well over Twin Spin diamond value. And even if this is problem, they should change paytable, all premiums should be double cut (diamonds = 500, sevens = 250, bars = 200, bells and cherries =125), and other symbols should remain the same. Max win would be 4860x. Make it variance behave like IR and that's it.

If Netent wants more earnings, they have to give more to the players.

 

[colinsunderland]

Because they all do it to some extent, so unless there is a clear breach of copyright / trade mark / patent etc that can be easily proved and assessed for damages its too costly to pursue.

I would have thought with stuff like Book of Ra/Dead and all the other Book clones that wouldn't be too hard to prove. It might be slightly harder with stuff like Magic Mirror, but come on, 3 books to trigger a feature on them all, the developers could have at least changed it to three newspapers or something lol.

 

[brickharbor]

Quality over quantity comes to mind with NetEnt. There's far too much crap being reskinned with terrible pay tables. Bring back the ability to change how many lines you want use. Focus on a few games with similar math to DOA for the actual 'slot players' out there, instead of churning out the same game after game for the 'family friendly' audience.

 

[Reelsoffun]

I would have thought with stuff like Book of Ra/Dead and all the other Book clones that wouldn't be too hard to prove. It might be slightly harder with stuff like Magic Mirror, but come on, 3 books to trigger a feature on them all, the developers could have at least changed it to three newspapers or something lol.

But did they copyright it? im guessing no, so nothing for another provider to answer to, it would be too costly to "protect" every slot feature idea / method so only the really big ideas normally get to the point where they apply for a trade mark or patent etc. Prime example would be MEGAWAYS (TM)

I do understand what you mean but its mostly why they don't bother and mostly all copy each others feature ideas. Which is nice for us, as a lot of time the clones are improved on, from the original idea.

 

[colinsunderland]

But did they copyright it? im guessing no, so nothing for another provider to answer to, it would be too costly to "protect" every slot feature idea / method so only the really big ideas normally get to the point where they apply for a trade mark or patent etc. Prime example would be MEGAWAYS (TM)

I do understand what you mean but its mostly why they don't bother and mostly all copy each others feature ideas. Which is nice for us, as a lot of time the clones are improved on, from the original idea.

You don't need to 'copyright' anything really, it just is

 

[dunover]

Genesis Gaming and RTG both have near-copies of Thunderstruck 2 with Olympus and Asgard respectively.
Approx 30 developers have copies of St*rb*rst and Book Of Ra Deluxe
Around 20 have versions of Thunderhorn/Buffalo the predecessor to the Rapist but a 243-way version.

Nobody seems to have copied Dead On Arrival but there are a few Twin Spin copies out there, plus numerous games based on Cleopatra but not only with 20 lines like the original, also 10,15,25 and 30 for different variance.

There are also several games very similar to the IGT 720way ones such as Siberian Storm, Hexbreaker 2 and Sumatran Storm.

The various ingredients i.e. multiways, stacked wilds, increasing multipliers, scatter pays in FS, 2x3x Wilds in FS, sticky wilds and respin expanding wilds and cluster pays are all out there and possibly considered generic by now. The ingredients are all there, it depends on how developers mix and match them as to how good a game is. IGT originally patented the cascading symbols idea seen on Da Vinci Diamonds. If you look at BTG's patenting of 'Megaways TM' it is just that - the USP is the fact the reels vary in rows each spin to create anything between 324-177649 ways, not cascading symbols or multiway pays or increasing FS multiplier as those are all old hat! It's worth patenting because it's a very complex maths model and must have been a complete bastard to get right and audit for compliance so they are protecting their work which is entirely logical.