Gaming
And the winners of the Dutch Game Awards 2023 are……!
The winners of the Dutch Game Awards 2023 were announced at the leading awards show for the Dutch game industry. This thirteenth edition of the award show took place during Dutch Media Week in Beeld & Geluid in Hilversum.
The Dutch Game Awards has several categories, from ‘Best Game’ to ‘Best Innovation’ and four special awards. The winners are chosen by a professional and diverse jury. Besides an award, the winners also receive a place in the collection of Sound & Vision, where the games are preserved as cultural heritage for eternity. And the winners are…!
Best Game: Age of Wonders 4 – Triumph Studios
Best Art: Mail Time – appelmoes games
Best Audio: Isonzo – BlackMill Games
Best Innovation: Secret Shuffle – Adriaan de Jongh & Friends
Best Technology: Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC – Nixxes Software
Best Game Design: Secret Shuffle – Adriaan de Jongh & Friends
Best Applied Game: Klankkr8 – Game Tailors
Best Debut Game: Kayak VR: Mirage – Better Than Life
Best Student Game: Iron Line – Team Trainwreck (BUas)
Triumph Studios with Age of Wonders grabs Best Game 2023 award: “Age of Wonders 4 proves to be an excellent continuation of the series. The game is innovative within the strategy genre and combines old and new mechanics to create a masterpiece. The depth and complexity give the game a feeling of epic proportions.”
The jury chose Secret Shuffle as the winner in the Best Innovation and Best Game Design categories: “What a way to put a smile on people’s faces! The game offers a very accessible way to connect people, through a form of gameplay never before seen by us. The different dance games will surprise at many parties, and the intuitive UI and low entry threshold make the game easy for anyone to understand and use. Making yourself uncomfortable has never felt better than with Secret Shuffle!”
Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered PC by Nixxes Software wins Best Technology: “Where most PC ports don’t hold up to the original game, the PC port of Marvel’s Spider-Man surpasses it. The PC version adds subtle details like the enhanced reflections in the windows of the buildings, without sacrificing performance. With many custom solutions to the technological challenges Nixxes has raised the bar for porting technology.”
Iron Line was voted Best Student Game: “The judges were frustrated that this is not a full game (yet). Iron Line offers a unique twist on the Tower Defense genre. It cleverly combines cargo management with the placement of turrets. Add well-designed elements like the game economics and it makes the whole game fit together like a glove.“
Best Debut Game was won by Kayak VR: Mirage: “The judges really felt like they were outside while playing this game. The kayak moves very lifelike and the attention to detail in the environment adds up to an experience that feels beyond realistic. Next to that the game shows an intuitive UI and fun competitive multiplayer races.”
Klankkr8 wins Best Applied Game: “It is noteworthy that Game Tailors used solid scientific theories and evidence as the basis for Klankkr8 and also conducted scientific research on the effectiveness of the game! These theories translated well into consistent, playful and simulating game design that introduces young children to letters, sounds and the first steps of learning to read. Klankkr8 is a full-fledged, interactive game that serves different audiences.”
Best Audio was won by Isonzo: “Isonzo excels with the integration of realistic audio from the historic World War I setting and excellently balances the chaos of sounds in the frantic multiplayer battles. This really adds to the immersion and depth of the game, and what’s more, the soundtrack is an orchestral masterpiece!”
Mail Time wins Best Art: “The studio describes itself as “a very small studio” and so it is impressive that Mail Time’s art feels so ‘wholesome’ and ‘cosy’ even though it was created by only one person. The unique complementary mix of 2D and 3D art certainly contributes to this depth, which the jury says is very hard to achieve!”
Special Awards
The Special Awards were created for the studios, individuals or initiatives that sometimes play more in the background, but are important for the Dutch game industry. The winners for the Special Awards are:
Best Studio: Triumph Studios
Inclusion Award: Esmeé van’t Hoff
Career Achievement: Angie Smets
Awesome Achievement: Deloryan Games
Triumph Studios wins Best Studio award: “Triumph Studios has been around since 1997 and has been going strong and quiet for over 25 years. Joining the Paradox family in 2017 did not negatively impact its own studio culture, but rather made the studio stronger in its own way. Employees stay with the studio for a long time and praise its good leadership. The studio’s rock-solid direction can also be seen in their games, with Triumph Studios not capitalizing on erratic trends, but rather following their own course.”
This year’s Inclusion Award goes to Esmeé van’t Hoff: “As the driving force behind Wholesome Games and Wholesome Direct, Esmeé has worked hard to create more space and recognition for “cozy games.” She is a figurehead for making these games visible to the broader public, which has given developers of these games a more prominent place in the game industry.”
The Career Achievement was won by Angie Smets: “Over the past 20 years at Guerrilla Games, Angie has proven to be a true cornerstone of the successful AAA game studio. But perhaps even more important is the role she has played in normalizing diversity, for both Guerrilla’s games and in the studio’s workplace! We wish her all the best in her new role at PlayStation Studios and look forward to more groundbreaking work from Angie!”
Last but not least, the Awesome Achievement goes to Deloryan Games: “Deloryan Hommers started as a one-person studio in her spare time, but her studio has since expanded to a team of eleven. Deloryan Games’ unique game serves a niche audience of diehard horse fans, but we’re not talking about little girls and glittering unicorns. Horse Reality brings a lot of depth to the market of horse management games by focusing on horse genetics, breeding programs, horse training and health statistics and all based on real-life data. The studio competes with studios ten times its size. Nevertheless, they have managed to grow in a tough market by taking their audience seriously.”
Real-money casual puzzle tournament startup says an EU private investor backed the April 2026 round.
EasyWin, a U.S.-based real-money gaming startup, said it has closed its second seed funding round at a $20 million valuation. The company announced the round in April 2026 and said it was backed by a private investor from the European Union.
The company previously closed its first seed round in December 2025 at a $15.5 million valuation. That round included funding from Velo Partners, Vladimir Nikolsky and several private angel investors.
EasyWin was founded by Ivan Leshkevich, a former executive at mobile game publisher and developer Mamboo Entertainment. The startup, which currently has a team of eight, says it has built a global tournament platform for casual puzzle games with cash prizes and operates across major markets.
Since launching in 2025, EasyWin reported 25% month-over-month growth in user spending and a 4.9 average user rating. It also said it has expanded into 12 countries with localized legal opinions and payment infrastructure, received PayPal approval for its MCC, and completed payments-stack integrations with global providers.
The company also said it has obtained GLI certification “confirming compliance with U.S. regulations for skill-based gaming products.” Leshkevich said: “In the long term, we aim to become a leading global skill-based gaming platform. To achieve this, we focus on a strong product USP and new AI-based dev tools.”
The post EasyWin closes second seed round at $20m valuation appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
A slot that breaks records in Las Vegas can flop in Stockholm. One that prints money across Macau might leave Western players scratching their heads.
It happens all the time, and it’s rarely an accident.
Player taste is shaped by culture, regulation, storytelling habits, and even the kind of phone someone uses to play. Once you start digging into why some themes win in some markets and stall in others, the patterns get pretty clear.
Cultural Influence on Slot Theme Preferences
People are drawn to what feels familiar. Mythology, history, and cultural symbols come pre-loaded with meaning, which makes recognition easier from the very first spin.
A Norse warrior slot lands differently for a player in Gothenburg than it does for one in Tokyo. The imagery taps into stories already living in their cultural memory.
That’s why certain themes punch above their weight when matched to the right region. Norse mythology peaks in Northern Europe. Dragons and koi fish dominate East Asia. Ancient Egypt, oddly enough, travels almost everywhere thanks to decades of pop-culture exposure.
Developers have noticed. They’re now drilling into culturally specific micro-niches, drawing on real historical detail rather than recycling tired clichés. Modern players spot lazy localization in seconds, and they punish it.
Visual Style and Regional Design Preferences
Aesthetic expectations also shift sharply between regions.
Some markets prefer clean, minimal interfaces with uncluttered reels and easy-to-read paytables. Others want vibrant colors, dense animation, and constant movement on screen.
Asian markets typically gravitate toward red-and-gold palettes, ornate symbol design, and celebratory sound effects. Nordic players tend to favor sleeker, video-game-quality production with restrained visuals.
The slots that travel best find a way to keep universal appeal while quietly localizing the small stuff. That might mean dialing back color saturation, swapping out the soundtrack to fit local musical tastes, or tweaking pacing so wins feel either explosive or steady depending on who’s playing.
These details look minor on paper. They often decide whether a title sticks in a market or vanishes within weeks.
Popular Slot Themes Across Global Markets
North America leans hard into entertainment-driven, jackpot-focused titles. Branded slots tied to films, TV, and music do well, alongside progressive heavyweights like Mega Moolah and Wheel of Fortune. Big-win marketing and instant brand recognition carry a lot of weight here.
American-themed slots featuring buffalo imagery, Vegas iconography, and Wild West motifs also remain strong sellers. Coverage of American-themed slots shows how patriotic visuals and classic three-reel formats keep pulling loyal audiences across regulated US states.
Asia is dominated by themes built around luck and prosperity. Titles like 88 Fortunes and Dragon Link work because their symbols — gold ingots, dragons, lanterns, festival imagery — connect directly to long-standing beliefs about fortune.
Interestingly, Asian-themed slots also perform unusually well in Latin America. A lot of that comes down to early market exposure: Asian providers entered those markets first and shaped player taste before Western developers caught up.
Europe, including Sweden and the wider Nordics, favors adventure and mythology. Book of Dead, Vikings Go Berzerk, Starburst, and Gonzo’s Quest stay popular because they hit a sweet spot between accessible gameplay and strong storytelling.
Sweden has a deeper connection to these games than most. Many of them — Starburst and Gonzo’s Quest among them — were built by Swedish studios like NetEnt and Play’n GO right out of Stockholm.
Regional Market Trends and Player Behaviour
Behavior itself varies by region, not just taste.
Some markets gravitate toward high-volatility gameplay with rare but massive payouts. Others prefer steadier, low-risk experiences that stretch session length.
North American players often chase jackpot potential and the dream of life-changing wins. Asian markets emphasize symbol-rich, visually intense gameplay where the experience itself is the reward.
Nordic markets sit somewhere in the middle. Swedish players in particular are known for analytical play. They want transparent mechanics like Megaways and Hold & Win, and they tend to stick with trusted, familiar titles rather than chasing every new release.
Industry data from Evolution, the group behind Swedish slot pioneers NetEnt and Red Tiger, points to Swedish-built slots having set the bar for production quality. That’s part of why local players hold such high expectations.
How Platforms Adapt Slot Libraries for Different Regions
Players don’t usually find their favorite slots by accident. Online casino comparison platforms do a lot of the heavy lifting.
These sites curate libraries based on local taste, regulation, and language. They cut through thousands of available titles and surface the ones that actually fit a given market.
In Sweden, this is especially noticeable. An online casino comparison site such as casinohallen.se tends to spotlight the slots that resonate most with Nordic players — Starburst for its clean design and steady low-volatility wins, Book of Dead for its Egyptian adventure framing, Gonzo’s Quest for its cascading Avalanche mechanic, and Reactoonz for its quirky character-driven gameplay.
The same logic applied in North America would push jackpot networks and branded titles to the top. An Asian-focused platform would lead with dragon and prosperity themes.
The role of these comparison sites isn’t just to list options. They act as cultural filters, surfacing the games most likely to actually click with a specific local audience.
Game Design Elements That Influence Global Success
Mechanics carry as much weight as themes.
Free spins, cascading reels, expanding wilds, bonus multipliers, and Megaways-style variable paylines all amplify theme performance when they line up with the narrative.
Book of Dead works because the expanding symbol mechanic feels like uncovering an ancient secret. An adventure slot needs progression. A prosperity slot needs symbols that feel ceremonial when they land. Mismatch the mechanic and the theme, and the whole thing feels off.
Globally successful slots tend to share a formula: simple core gameplay, a recognizable theme, and one or two distinctive mechanics. That combination travels well without losing identity.
As Slots 101 coverage on slot fundamentals points out, the genre’s real strength is how easily it adapts. A few tweaks to symbols, sound, and volatility can transform the same underlying game into something that feels native almost anywhere.
In the end, slot performance is a reflection of the player. Get the cultural fit right, match the mechanics to local risk appetite, and respect regional aesthetic expectations — and a slot can quietly become a market favorite for years.
The post Why Some Slot Themes Perform Better in Different Markets appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
SOFTSWISS has solidified its leadership position in the European iGaming market by winning the Game Aggregator of the Year category.
The recognition took place during the prestigious SBC Awards Europe 2026 ceremony, held on April 30 in Malta.
The event served as the official closing of the SBC Summit Malta, bringing together the industry’s top operators, suppliers, and regulators.
The award highlights the platform’s ability to provide content scalability and high-impact engagement tools for its global partners.
Technical performance and scale at the industry’s core
With a portfolio exceeding 40,000 titles, the SOFTSWISS Game Aggregator connects operators with over 300 providers across 24 regulated jurisdictions.
Beyond volume, technical stability remains a key pillar, maintaining a 99.999% uptime even during peak traffic loads.
Tatyana Kaminskaya, Head of SOFTSWISS Game Aggregator, celebrated the win in Malta, often considered the capital of the iGaming world.
According to Kaminskaya, the award reflects the team’s dedication to creating a practical tool for the daily management of operator brands.
Innovation in retention and new prediction markets
The victory at the SBC Awards follows the recent launch of new features, such as the Tournament Report and Instant Tournaments.
These tools allow operators to monitor campaign metrics in real-time and adjust marketing strategies without switching platforms.
The company has also diversified its B2B offering with the introduction of its Prediction Markets Platform.
This solution focuses on fixed-odds for real-world events, covering areas ranging from politics and economy to technology.
With over 15 years of experience and a team of 2,000 professionals, SOFTSWISS reaffirms its role as a global technology hub in the gaming ecosystem.
The post SOFTSWISS wins ‘Aggregator of the Year’ at SBC Awards Europe 2026 appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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