04 APRIL 2024
Picture this: you’re part of the team at PokerStars. You spot an opportunity to improve the player experience, and you go all-in to make it happen!
The Social team did just this – they brought key players from our global teams together to power up the Play Money Casino (PMC) experience for mobile.
There were no challenges too big to overcome - there never are at PokerStars. Big wins, though? Now we’re talking. Here are the highlights of the PMC Mobile project, and what winning together looked like for the colleagues involved.
The Aim of the Game
In case you’re new to the game, PMC allows players to access an epic casino and slots experience using play money as opposed to real cash.
Back in September 2022, the Social team spotted an opportunity to bring the casino thrill to mobile, making the fun available anywhere. So the team put their heads together with key colleagues and came up with a game plan.
Max Oyston, Product Manager, says the team’s “ultimate aim was to create a product that looked and feels like it was created for mobile” and one that was a cut above the rest!
From ideation to launch, the project was a masterclass in collaboration and innovation. The team crossed continents (virtually speaking) to deliver the goods for our players, with colleagues collaborating across Bulgaria, India and the Isle of Man.
Winning Strategy = Collaboration and Innovation
The project wasn’t without its challenges, but then most things worth doing (or fun!) aren’t.
Challenge number one was figuring out how to integrate PMC into mobile via the PokerStars Lite app. From the get-go the Social development team valued the help of the Mobile team, who teamed up with Max Oyston (Product Manager), Nik Karadjov (Senior Development Manager) and Stefan Dimov (Senior Software Engineer) to name just a few.
Being able to call on the limitless skills and expertise our colleagues bring to the table is a huge bonus of working at PokerStars. Max Oyston, Product Manager, enjoyed “working with multiple teams across the company…making the whole thing truly a group effort”.
The team wanted to make sure our players could experience the thrill of the spin anytime, anywhere, so delivering a smooth user experience on the move was a priority.
“We came up with innovative ways to ensure that the overall game play experience, especially slots performance, was not compromised when being played on a host of different mobile device types” – Max Oyston
Think animations, reel size, screen resolution, operating systems - each slot had to be checked and tested countless times across a wide array of mobile devices.
The team aced every challenge they came up against and enjoyed “valuable feedback on the way … that made this a stellar project”, Justin Samuel, UI/UX Designer, adds.
Kushlov Pendam Goud says it was a “great learning experience collaborating with the talented dev team” and Angel Angelov, Senior Delivery Manager, adds “I have really been proud to be a part of such a skilful and dedicated team.”
From concept to casino craze, Play Money Casino Mobile’s evolution to awesome made the teams proud and they are delighted they achieved their ultimate aim!
Kushlov says “PMC Mobile opens the game up to more players and lets them enjoy it on the go. More players can experience it now, and I’m excited to see engagement soar!”
And soar it did. Daily active users increased by 74% after the launch of PMC on mobile. A jackpot win for the team, and the players!
Are you in?
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