Gamification and retention
For over a year I’ve been bringing mobile game mechanics into iGaming.
From 11% to 30%: FTD conversion after the deposit-locked onboarding bonus.
A bonus locked until the first deposit
My idea. The player meets gamification early, finishes a demo game and gets a big bonus. The first deposit opens it.
- FTD conversion
- from 11% to 30%
- Where
- different BrainRocket brands
- Role
- Senior Product Manager / Producer, May 2025 to August 2026
Mechanics
Quests, leaderboards, wheels, daily calendars, progressions, tournaments. Three I’d single out:
- Daily rewardsMoved retention a lot, especially in the later stages of the player lifecycle.
- Piggy bankThe vault, like a piggy bank in mobile games. My idea.
- ThermometerHeats up and cools down with the player’s current activity. I came up with this one too.
What I own
- Engagement mechanics and promo tools, each tied to one metric, built together with marketing.
- Core casino flows: registration, first deposit, welcome bonuses. T&C and game rules, agreed with compliance.
- Live casino: sessions differ from slots, so social mechanics work better, like leaderboards and shared table missions.
- Casual games as a meta layer for the brands.
- LiveOps and the player lifecycle, from onboarding and FTUE to win-back.
What I tell the market
Don’t copy the big gamifications of large competitors, with a complex meta-game and ported mobile games. Take one metric, like session length or deposit conversion, and fix it with mechanics that already work.
Retention is designed together with monetization. Split them across two teams, and one will keep repairing what the other breaks.
This is the work I want to keep doing.
In free-to-play, retention is the business.
If the player does not come back tomorrow, there is no money. Missions, loyalty programs, tournaments and prize mechanics that iGaming is buying now all grew from there.
For fifteen years I built these loops and answered for the money they brought in. I judge a mechanic by two questions: does the player come back tomorrow, and does it pay back.