Thunderkick lowers their RTP and changes GUI!

[CasinoTwitcher]

As one of the most hardcore Thunderkick fans that have ever lived, I'm extremely sorry to see that they have started the process of destroying their previously well made slots!

Thunderkick will: Re-launch a few of their older titles for desktop, and add a mobile version for each of them. Both with new graphics and a lower RTP.

The first slot out is Birds on a Wire, and Vera & John already have the new version out. The old RTP of 97.20% is lowered to the more common 96.00%

Thunderkick had a lot of good payouts ranging from 97.00% to 98.60%, I'm sure this is just the first step in converting them all (maybe now Fruit Warp as the game is so incredible quick).
Their newer titles are all 96.00%, so this is probably where they want all their games.

I understand that they need to earn money, but what upsets me so much is that they have re-done some sounds and animations from the previous version, and I absolutely hate it!
Birds on a Wire have always been my favorite slot over all, and the way the new birds enter the board now is just catastrophic... The game play feels so much more unfinished, and more laggy than the original which was nuts...... The line win sound sounds like a recording from inside a box... I know that there are some Thunderkick rep's here, and I would love to hear how on earth they can do these insane changes to their games... It feels like they haven't even seen how much worse the new game flow is and sounds....

I can live with the payout as that's a common percentage, but to lower the performance of a game like this might be impossible to forgive. I'm afraid of what they will do to the rest of their games..


I've attached some pictures from the game and the payouts, old version on top.

 

[fun4all]

Damn that is really bad. Just goes to show providers can and will alter RTP's after launch.

I used to really like thunderkick, not as much now

 

[Nicola]

Very disappointed to see those changes. I only started playing Thunderkick slots recently at BetSafe after watching you on the stream.

 

[Lucky Loser]

I cant win on their slots anyway, so this is just another reason not to play them.

 

[Mango]

Interface changes aren't unheard of, but just changing the RTP like that as well is evil. Would very much like to hear Thunderkick's reasons as to why they did this. They have an account on here so hopefully we'll hear from them sooner or later.

EDIT: Just tested out the new Birds on a Wire, what on Earth were they thinking? I would understand perfectly if this was to be the mobile version of the slot (which would explain the simpler animations and the low-fidelity audio), but this is unacceptable. Why did they do this?

 

[KasinoKing]

I have to totally agree with the OP - this is a ludicrous change.
I did like and play some of their slots, but it was already pretty hard to get a decent win from them; having a LOWER RTP will probably stop me ever playing them again.
Totally crazy move IMHO.

KK

 

[syntynyt]

the only reason i never touched Birds on a Wire more than once, was because the wires kept changing every spin and my eyes were irritated by this effect. at least now the wires are unchanged so ill give some tries as i always loved the game. howver, ill be pissed to see awful changes to Sunny Scoops, which is simply flawless in all areas. new menu/neon fonts used also sucks

 

[MiltonW]

No more ThunderKick for me. This is unforgivable.

 

[hedgehok]

I use to play quite some Thunderkick games regularly but this is a real bummer to say the least. I've PM'd the Thunderkick rep. I hope he can chime in and explain the changes.

 

[Jono777]

I had just started to throw the odd couple of quid at these games, again, same as Nicola Inspired by CT's streams.

All I will say is I am glad I did not get too much a love for these games for this to then go and happen. I will stick to other providers, although the paranoid part of me suggests once word gets out will others follow suit?

 

[fun4all]

although the paranoid part of me suggests once word gets out will others follow suit?

How do you know they have not already?

People (not you Jon) always state on here as FACT that RTP's are not altered after launch. However they don't know the truth, only the games provider does.

I would be willing to place a large bet that this is not the first time base RTP has been altered on a slot after launch by a major provider.

 

[conker]

Just to play devils advocate here, are we sure this is something Thunderkick are rolling out or just something that has occurred at V&J.

I know that other slot manufacturers allow some leeway for operators when it come to RTP, allowing them to adjust to suit.

I can see it has been changed in the paytable, so this does look like a more permanent change, however it would be worth checking a few other Thunderkick sites to ensure it is something they are fazing in across their network. If someone has time maybe they could check any of the following sites that have Thunderkick:

betspin
casinoluck
guts
jetbull
Mr Green
Next Casino
Videoslots.com

Also, I think it is worth noting that a few replies consider this to be the death nail for Thunderkick, but I tend to disagree. They have brought their RTP's more inline with other slot manufacturers. Therefore they will be relying on their game experiences more now than maybe their highly competitive RTP's to win favour with customers. That's not a death nail, but they will definitely lose some of their most loyal players, the OP being one of them.

 

[fun4all]

I checked videoslots its still the old version there

 

[Jono777]

Guts, Betspin and Casino Luck appear to be old versions atm too.



although the tinfoil side of me suggests that they may be 'working as we type' as it took the game(s) forever to load up!

BetSpin



Casino Luck

 

[CasinoTwitcher]

Just to play devils advocate here, are we sure this is something Thunderkick are rolling out or just something that has occurred at V&J.

I know that other slot manufacturers allow some leeway for operators when it come to RTP, allowing them to adjust to suit.

This is a change they will roll out to all the casinos..

Also, I think it is worth noting that a few replies consider this to be the death nail for Thunderkick, but I tend to disagree. They have brought their RTP's more inline with other slot manufacturers. Therefore they will be relying on their game experiences more now than maybe their highly competitive RTP's to win favour with customers. That's not a death nail, but they will definitely lose some of their most loyal players, the OP being one of them.

I just want to point out that I don't think the RTP is the big issue here, it's the fact that they have downgraded the quality of their sound and graphics/animations. That's the thing I just can't understand, their first version was flawless, and now they downgraded it..

 

[KasinoKing]

I just want to point out that I don't think the RTP is the big issue here, it's the fact that they have downgraded the quality of their sound and graphics/animations. That's the thing I just can't understand, their first version was flawless, and now they downgraded it..

Well personally I'd rather settle for crap graphics and a higher RTP - and I would have thought most other players feel the same...?

After all, we play to win don't we? Not just to look at pretty pictures!

KK

 

[fun4all]

Well personally I'd rather settle for crap graphics and a higher RTP - and I would have thought most other players feel the same...?

After all, we play to win don't we? Not just to look at pretty pictures!

Totally agree. Once you are a seasoned gambler you want a nice fast game at your chosen variance with a good RTP. RTP is WAY more important to me than how it looks. I know I am taking the worst of it but playing at 97% instead of 95% is going to give me way more of a chance. It just feels like I am getting a better deal.

 

[conker]

I just want to point out that I don't think the RTP is the big issue here, it's the fact that they have downgraded the quality of their sound and graphics/animations. That's the thing I just can't understand, their first version was flawless, and now they downgraded it..

It might be something to do with loading times of games on slower devices. I wouldn't have thought they would have deliberately made their games less appealing by reducing images and sound quality.

It is a shame, I totally agree with you here. There is nothing worse than getting used to something like HD with dolby surround sound, to then have to go back to normal picture quality with basic cheap speaker quality.

 

[CasinoTwitcher]

Well personally I'd rather settle for crap graphics and a higher RTP - and I would have thought most other players feel the same...?

After all, we play to win don't we? Not just to look at pretty pictures!

KK

I actually don't agree

I play for the excitement and entertainment, I'd rather play a smooth 96% game than a laggy/poorly made 97% game, no doubt about it.

And if you play to win, slots or casino games in general is definitely not the way to hit it big time (unless you are extremely lucky), even if you play the higher RTP's.

 

[UnibetSam]

Unibet were given the option of taking either the new, lower RTP or stick with the current version.

We obviously chose to keep the version our players liked at the RTP they were used to

 

[CasinoTwitcher]

Unibet were given the option of taking either the new, lower RTP or stick with the current version.

We obviously chose to keep the version our players liked at the RTP they were used to

Well that is interesting!! Good choice btw!

 

[dunover]

Just for this vileness of reduced RTP their slots are going to get my renaming services:

Turds On A Pyre
Runny Poops
Berk The Bumshafter.
1429 Undiagnosed Diseases.
Excremental Explosivo

 

[C-Sharp]

The main reason for the new version has to be the fact that it's not Flash anymore. It's now Html5. Most gameproviders will do this if they haven't already, since Flash is a dying platform with less and less support from browsers. It also explains the lack of real-time 3D in the new version. However, it doesn't explain the low quality on the graphics or sound... That's just odd and makes no sense.

 

[CasinoTwitcher]

The main reason for the new version has to be the fact that it's not Flash anymore. It's now Html5. Most gameproviders will do this if they haven't already, since Flash is a dying platform with less and less support from browsers. It also explains the lack of real-time 3D in the new version. However, it doesn't explain the low quality on the graphics or sound... That's just odd and makes no sense.

Thunderkick games have never been flash, they have been built with/on Unity (

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)

 

[C-Sharp]

Thunderkick games have never been flash, they have been built with/on Unity (

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)

They still run in a flashplayer, at least to host the unityplayer. Load the game up on Guts and rightclick on the game while it is loading.

 

[randomiam]

hmm

Lowering rtp gets them a new nickname chunderkick feature new games like scammy scoups

 

[UnibetSam]

Just to clarify, we did in fact have the choice of two RTPs on Esqueleto Explosivo and we chose to stick with the higher RTP as I mentioned.

With Birds on a Wire, despite our efforts, TK didn't give us the choice to keep the older version therefore we fully removed the game from our site.

At Unibet, we'd never lower the RTP of an existing game, we'd rather remove it from our site.

 

[aceking123]

Just to clarify, we did in fact have the choice of two RTPs on Esqueleto Explosivo and we chose to stick with the higher RTP as I mentioned.

With Birds on a Wire, despite our efforts, TK didn't give us the choice to keep the older version therefore we fully removed the game from our site.

At Unibet, we'd never lower the RTP of an existing game, we'd rather remove it from our site.

hi Sam got a question about what happened too the slot called (chamara or similar name )with dice & bugs & stuff went hunting for it the other day could not find it

 

[ginzink]

Unibet were given the option of taking either the new, lower RTP or stick with the current version.

We obviously chose to keep the version our players liked at the RTP they were used to

Just to clarify, we did in fact have the choice of two RTPs on Esqueleto Explosivo and we chose to stick with the higher RTP as I mentioned.

With Birds on a Wire, despite our efforts, TK didn't give us the choice to keep the older version therefore we fully removed the game from our site.

At Unibet, we'd never lower the RTP of an existing game, we'd rather remove it from our site.

And that attitude is why unibet is one of the best sites!

 

[UnibetSam]

hi Sam got a question about what happened too the slot called (chamara or similar name )with dice & bugs & stuff went hunting for it the other day could not find it

Hi, due to compliance reasons to do with the UK regulation laws we've had to remove this game in the UK unfortunately.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Hi, due to compliance reasons to do with the UK regulation laws we've had to remove this game in the UK unfortunately.

What exactly are these UKGC requirements that cause the seemingly random removal of individual games from UK players even though the operators and software providers are properly licenced?

 

[UnibetSam]

What exactly are these UKGC requirements that cause the seemingly random removal of individual games from UK players even though the operators and software providers are properly licenced?

The UKGC actually changed some of their rules this year which meant games had to meet new standards.

Some game suppliers chose not to go through the process, therefore we had to remove these games.

There were quite a few we had to remove such as Charmorama, Tesla and Moby Dick.

 

[fun4all]

The UKGC actually changed some of their rules this year which meant games had to meet new standards.

Mr Sam thank you for your responses in this thread, we all appreciate them. We also all appreciate your player friendly focus as a whole (as noted by your choice to remove BOAW).

Can I ask for some more details here? What are the new standards that have to be met? I guess I could find out by delving into the new UK regulations but I am just curious if it can be summed up in a line or two without having to do that.

 

[UnibetSam]

Mr Sam thank you for your responses in this thread, we all appreciate them. We also all appreciate your player friendly focus as a whole (as noted by your choice to remove BOAW).

Can I ask for some more details here? What are the new standards that have to be met? I guess I could find out by delving into the new UK regulations but I am just curious if it can be summed up in a line or two without having to do that.

I'll explain is as best as I understand - although I don't work in Legal or Compliance so bear with me

The UKGC said all games in the UK had to meet "level 3" testing requirements - and some suppliers told us they were not going to go through the process of being tested at this extra level and therefore we had to remove them from our site.

What is Level 3 testing I hear you ask? This is from this public document:

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• Level 3: Full testing of game operation integrated on platform. This involves
verifying the software implementation of the game artwork, maths and theoretical
RTP through testing of the game on the live environment (or development/staging
environment which is essentially the same as the live environment), verification of
game rules, actual RTP using simulation1 and emulation2 testing utilising the RNG
tested under Level 1, and where the digital signatures taken on the test platform
are the same as those taken on the live environment). This testing must be
conducted by an approved external third party test house.

So basically, most suppliers went through this extra process for the UK, but some didn't and we had to remove their games unfortunately.

 

[fun4all]

Awesome info Mr Sam thanks

 

[vinylweatherman]

I'll explain is as best as I understand - although I don't work in Legal or Compliance so bear with me

The UKGC said all games in the UK had to meet "level 3" testing requirements - and some suppliers told us they were not going to go through the process of being tested at this extra level and therefore we had to remove them from our site.

What is Level 3 testing I hear you ask? This is from this public document:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

• Level 3: Full testing of game operation integrated on platform. This involves
verifying the software implementation of the game artwork, maths and theoretical
RTP through testing of the game on the live environment (or development/staging
environment which is essentially the same as the live environment), verification of
game rules, actual RTP using simulation1 and emulation2 testing utilising the RNG
tested under Level 1, and where the digital signatures taken on the test platform
are the same as those taken on the live environment). This testing must be
conducted by an approved external third party test house.

So basically, most suppliers went through this extra process for the UK, but some didn't and we had to remove their games unfortunately.

I see, it's not about the design of the games themselves, but the degree of testing required to ensure that the game operates as intended and as described when it's being played in the live environment. I was thinking that the UKGC had decided to ban certain types of game play as they have with the land based fruit machines, such as banning fruit machines from having features that would strongly encourage a player to believe they had to keep playing in order to have a chance of getting a bigger prize. I have also noticed that some of these supposedly banned lures have been creeping back such as the "play another 8 games at this stake for a guaranteed deal or no deal board" on what seems to be the ONLY permitted game design for a fruit machine in 2015

 

[curremon]

i was wondering whats with the birds on a wire 2.1.0... now i know.. good bye thunderkick ... 3 features now and all of them paid me 3 x bet DDD fucking joke