NEXT.io Podcast Tom Wood: How Operators Should Think About Game Studios
Nov 27, 2025
Tom Wood, CEO of RAW iGaming, sheds light on the innovative drive behind his studio, known for unique gaming products like Yahtzee. He discusses the challenges of standing out in a flooded market with 600 new games monthly. Tom emphasizes the importance of genuine innovation over copying, and shares insights into how AI could reshape game production. He explores the balance between game quality and market positioning, and predicts upcoming trends, including the rise of simple but unexpected hits in the iGaming landscape.
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Mission To Break The Sameness
- RAW iGaming exists to break a market full of copycats by delivering genuinely different mechanics and formats.
- Tom Wood calls RAW the âpink shark in a sea of samenessâ and refuses to launch mere clones of trends.
Volume Kills Discovery
- The industry releases huge volumes of near-identical games, limiting discovery and player attention.
- Tom Wood argues innovation is the long-term way to create operator differentiation and new player segments.
Wheel As Core: Super Slice Test
- RAW launched Super Slice, a wheel used as a base-game mechanic rather than a bonus to test player acceptance.
- The experiment taught them players tolerate evolution but not constant radical departures from familiar formats.