NEXT.io Podcast James Curwen: How Yggdrasil is completely revamping the business model of a game supplier (Part 3)
🎙 NEXT.io Podcast #257 with James Curwen, CEO of Yggdrasil.
The slot industry is producing more games than ever yet standing out has never been harder.
In this episode, James Curwen joins Pierre Lindh to explain why the era of reskinned slots is coming to an end and what will replace it. From rising production costs and algorithm-driven distribution to player fatigue and creative stagnation, James breaks down why the traditional slot development model no longer works.
⏰ Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:43 - Sponsors message
02:08 - The 3-part journey of transforming Yggdrasil
05:03 - Rebuilding tech: Platform, back office, AWS, scalability
06:59 - The cost of game production and the reskin problem
09:08 - Game in a Box: From 10-month dev cycles to 1 month
12:03 - How the business model is shifting
14:55 - €22K Game in a Box offer
16:04 - Studio in a Box: The €60K turnkey solution
18:06 - Target customers: studios, streamers, affiliates, operators
20:33 - Why this isn’t AI gimmickry
24:22 - Building and refining games faster with full creator control
27:00 - Lower costs, faster ROI, and a new model for suppliers
29:08 - AWS collaboration and scaling without service sacrifice
31:59 - Commercial growth expectations
34:52 - Tool capacity vs. support limits
37:19 - Flooding the market vs. empowering operators
39:59 - Is this killing small studios or saving them?
42:02 - Unity, player data, and creative freedom
43:28 - Going niche
46:40 - Game in a Box available launch
48:02 - Become the world’s biggest game producer
50:01 - Competing with Pragmatic, Play’n GO, and levelling the field
51:21 - Getting visibility and operator positioning
53:44 - New service: Dedicated sales support for small studios
54:36 - Final thoughts
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This episode of NEXT.io is brought to you by:
Pragmatic Solutions – Leading iGaming platform technology.
Pragmatic Play – Industry-leading content provider.
https://www.pragmaticplay.com/en/
Sponsored by:
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