Casino dashboard: November 2023
Even though we do not classify it as a Halloween title, it’s fitting that the Book Of Dead (Play’n GO) made it to the top of our main casino charts in October. Less scary are the little aliens of sister product Reactoonz, whose revival has been boosted by the pre-marketing spin for imminent spin-off, Gargantoonz. It’s been 10 years since their Energoonz launched, the first cluster slot, they say, and so a countdown clock to the release of the latest sequel is quite apt.
Top 20 games by distribution
Just the one newcomer to the main charts: Big Bass Halloween from Pragmatic Play which launched, perhaps, a little late to make the podium. Big budgets and a well-oiled distribution channel do not always guarantee that seasonal launches peak on time.
Otherwise, our main casino charts were relatively static and so on with the annual freak show….
Here is our Halloween Top 20, based on game distribution across 3,000 operator sites. To ensure variety as always, we have limited the list to just the top-performing title per studio.
Despite the late launch, Big Bass Halloween was able to demote old favourites Bloodsuckers (NetEnt), Immortal Romance (Microgaming), and Count Jokula (Play’n GO). A link between fish and horror might seem tenuous and the Big Bass bloke clearly thought so too. Trading dungarees for a dark mackintosh and brandishing a fish hook like a not-so-grim reaper, he didn’t seem at home in fancy dress, yet a “Big Bass [insert pretty much any word you like]” continues to reel ‘em in regardless.
Meanwhile, it was good to see a fair few titles from the likes of Habanero, Thunderkick and Platipus that featured the Day of the Dead festival plus of course some Voodoo Magic from Greentube.
As per last year, we reveal our best new Halloween games below – and half of these also made it into the overall Halloween charts above. Plenty of classic motifs throughout and just a bit of variance in how serious or light-hearted their approach is to the theme. In the Exorcist vs Casper The Friendly Ghost stakes, Nolimit City, Hacksaw Gaming and Print Studios square up to the likes of Red Rake Gaming, Pearfiction Studios and 1X2 Network. Or perhaps there’s no competition at all since they appeal to different tastes – those who enjoy missing a beat versus those who are terrified by their own shadow.
Red Rake Gaming and Bgaming both managed to combine the full set of spirits under one roof – mummies, zombies, vampires and Frankenstein, but it’s often your pan-wielding “nana” as depicted in Granny vs Zombies that is the scariest of all.
With another dozen spooky launches in 2023, Spinomenal once again tops the list of horror factories while the likes of Inbet Games, Pragmatic Play, Relax Gaming and Red Tiger had a terrific crop too. As for Nolimit City, Halloween is more a philosophy than a season. Plenty more dark-themed games from that studio, with an understated malevolence to their titles too – The Crypt, Rotten, Disturbed, DJ Psycho and Kiss My Chainsaw were just a handful to launch this year.
Biggest studio dealmakers
With ambitions to expand their reach, 7777gaming and Gaming Corps remain at the top of our studio dealmakers list while aggregator Everymatrix manages to plug in yet another three studios this month, further extending its lead as the number one games aggregator in terms of portfolio size.
Biggest aggregator dealmakers
Christmas charts are just around the corner but in the meantime, make sure you look out for our Q3 review, due to launch any day now. It’s packed with plenty of data on studio and game performances, games per studio and per operator and much more.
* Please note these are live charts that update every month so please ensure the month of October 2023 is selected in the drop-downs to match the analysis
** The interactive games chart at the top excludes live games and table games. Game rankings are determined by the number of game appearances on the casino homepages of more than 2,500 casino sites. To access many other charts including game rankings, live and table games, positions on subpages or to filter game performance by game theme, game feature, market or operator, please get in touch with our partner, Egamingmonitor.com. Egamingmonitor covers 54,000 games, 1,500 suppliers and 3,000+ operators.
*** Data on deals by month was collected from April 2020 onwards and the rolling chart reflects current dealmaking performance, i.e. how many deals were signed over the last six months. Note that only deals either a) on company websites or b) in the gaming press or c) reported to us by studios and aggregators, are collated. Deals between studios & aggregators (and aggregators & operators) from all time are available via Egamingmonitor.com.
