Play'n GO's success with Raging Rex 3
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With online slots becoming increasingly popular, game developers like Play’n GO are continuously looking for new ways to engage players with exciting and innovative games. One such way to grab an audience’s attention, and keep it, is by releasing sequels to fan favourites like Sweet Alchemy, the Toonz series and Raging Rex.
Play’n GO has become masterful in enhancing original games’ concepts by adding new twists, improved graphics and innovative gameplay features which see players coming back for more time and time again.
“There’s no secret sauce to our success. We just have a hugely creative team that work on our games. They’ve shown this time and time again with our chart-topping character development and stories.”
With continuous success with sequels across its portfolio, it was only natural the team at Play’n GO would build on its popular Raging Rex series, releasing Raging Rex 3 in 2023. But with the return of the dinosaur comes the return of the need to engage new and existing players.
Raging Rex 3: Unleashing new mechanics
Releasing a sequel to an already successful slot series comes with huge responsibility – not only do players want their favourite characters to return but they want to see new faces and new features alongside them.
This is why Play’n GO’s design team never rests on its laurels; instead they focus on enhancing the gameplay of every new slot edition based on player feedback from each previous game.
“The good thing with the Raging Rex series is we’ve kept the games similar, with the same walk-in Rex feature that we had before and the baby Rexes as individual wilds,” says Olekszy. “But we’ve added a completely new feature, this being the third game in the series, and that is the Survival feature.”
The latest Raging Rex game includes a whole host of new mechanics for players to get their teeth into – and one that has proven to be a particularly popular is the new Hold and Win mechanic. This offers an exciting respin feature that retriggers with each special symbol, taking players to an alternative screen with even more options to win. It marks a bit of a departure for the series and is something that Olekszy is enthusiastic about.
“This is not something that I ever expected that we’d have in a Raging Rex game,” he explains. “So, it’s really exciting to see that different mechanics can be incorporated into a series that we’ve had around for a while now. It really shows the diversity of the different mechanics we have in our arsenal.”
Round two with Rex: How to play the latest slot
The original edition of the game, Raging Rex, hit the ground running back in 2019. The initial slot format saw dinosaurs roam free on a 6×4 grid, giving players a tremendous 4,096 ways to pick up a standard win. Raging Rex 2 followed, offering fans a similar gameplay on 6×4 reels with 4,096 paylines that play from left to right.
However, in the latest edition, Raging Rex 3, players are taken on a different path as the Queen of the Cretaceous returns. During the base of this game, players can unlock multiple free spins by landing three to six scatters on the reels. They will then get the chance to pick from one of three exciting new free spin bonuses.
Big win potential
The good news for players is that Raging Rex 3 offers the potential to win big, with a maximum win of up to x30,000 the initial bet. Play’n GO has also created three new free spin features to keep things exciting. In the latest release, players can choose between three special features: Feeding Frenzy, Hatchling Mania and Survival.
Feeding Frenzy sees Rex walking to a different reel with each spin, hunting its prey. One of the four dinosaur symbols will be selected at the start of the round and will become the target – it’s up to the player to spin a multiplier to win big.
During Hatchling Mania, the hatchlings drop onto the reels, offering players the chance of securing a x2 or x3 multiplier.
Survival, meanwhile, transforms Raging Rex 3 into a unique bonus game. By taking the concept of Hold and Win, this innovative new mode offers the player three lives to survive for as long as possible on the reel, accruing wins through the Rex collector as they go. As an added bonus, whenever six symbol wins are accumulated, the value of each of these symbols increases by the original value – and with five different symbols, each and every spin presents a new challenge.
The challenge: Creating the best in slots
For Play’n GO, one of its biggest selling points is that its games aren’t targeted at any one demographic. In fact, the player base is so comprehensive that the games are on offer in 16 different regulated markets with 10 new jurisdictions added in the past three years alone.
“It’s quite a broad audience for Raging Rex,” says Olekszy. “I think there’s some crossover from people who like famous dinosaur movies out there, but it also appeals to our current fanbase.
“Raging Rex 3 definitely stands out because there aren’t too many dinosaur-themed slot games out there. In the slots industry there’s a lot of repetition in themes and mechanics but we believe that Raging Rex 3 is one that’s truly unique.”
A colossal creation process on Raging Rex 3
Olekszy believes the success of Play’n GO’s slot games lies in the creative process that takes place behind the scenes, with its staff playing a leading role. “We are lucky to have a lot of free-thinking individuals who come up with some great ideas, great stories and great characters.”
He says themes are never a planned strategy, though, but rather stem from the stimulating Play’n GO environment that empowers the team. It is this, alongside the trust afforded the design team, that makes the game developer’s process stand out against its competitors.
“The creation process is made up of innovation pipelines that we have internally,” Olekszy explains. “However, anyone in the company can submit ideas for game concepts, which makes it a very free-flowing and collaborative environment for everyone.”
Once these themes are channelled through development teams, the game production team ultimately makes the final decision on whether they can build a release from the initial idea. And it’s clear that this creative freedom has produced some of the most popular – and award-winning slot –games over the past few years.
“Whoever you are in the company, you can submit a game brief and then the games team will pick that up and run with it. Every one gets reviewed personally by someone senior in the games team.
“From there the team can choose what they do with that information. They may like some elements and may change others. Or it can be as simple as taking a direction from the commercial team that they’d like to have more fishing games or more Irish games, or whatever it may be. And then they can build out concepts from there. It’s a really interesting and creative process.”
“The game creation process is always collaborative and it’s always data-driven.”
Getting slots right: Data-driven demand
With unique themes stemming from creative collaboration, the next step for Play’n GO is delving into the data to decide which mechanics are in high demand – and for this, Olekszy believes feedback is the best place to start. “The Rex games have always been focused on having new and innovative features,” he says. “As a team, we did a lot of market research on the most popular mechanics out in the industry right now and how we can incorporate those into our slot games.
“Before starting on Raging Rex 3, we saw that Hold and Win mechanics were very popular, so we thought why not add one of those into our existing popular games. We’ve combined market research into what the most popular mechanics currently are and managed to bundle it in with the existing Raging Rex mechanics.”
Understanding player feedback and what the audience wants to see in a slot game is front and centre of the development process, Olekszy explains. “We like to see how players engage with the game, how long they like to spend on the game, how many game rounds they play and how people play. That’s generally a good indication of the popularity. It’s also a good indication when we see players continue to play the original games as well as the new release.”
Praise for Raging Rex 3
With such a stellar reputation in storytelling, Play’n GO is constantly under pressure from current and new players to go bigger and better with every new game release. When bringing out the first sequel, the team at Play’n GO clearly hit the sweet spot, with one review on BigWinBoard claiming “Raging Rex 2’s gameplay is every bit as good as the original. Even better, in some crucial ways.”
And it seems to have got it right again this time around with plaudits for Raging Rex 3 ringing in similar praise. “Things are new, changed, and they look better than ever,” wrote AskGamblers in its review. “Animation, design, artwork, all looks splendid […] and with a terrific max win cap, dare we say it’s better than the original.”
The future for Play’n GO
With the game developer’s output continuing to resonate greatly with players, it’s now all about maintaining this level of quality in the upcoming year. It’s 12-month period that promises a number of exciting new developments, as Olekszy makes clear.
“We have some innovative games lined up for 2024 that will impress players visually with interesting themes that they’ve not yet seen from Play’n GO. Mechanically, we’ve got loads of new features and ideas that we have not yet seen anywhere else on the market.”
