Progressive jackpots are the highest possible rewards the players can get at online casinos. The earnings from hitting the prize pools are unparalleled to regular winnings, promotion benefits, or any other system available on a gambling website. However, the most popular slots pokies with a progressive jackpot feature are titles that were released around a decade ago. It is a counterintuitive phenomenon that has several reasons behind it.
Popularity vs Reward
First things first, it is necessary to comprehend that the size of a progressive prize pool depends on the number of players enjoying the specific title it is offered in. The prize pool is increased with every bet made in the game, so there is a direct correlation between its size and the popularity of the game.
This leads to the first reason why the leading slots pokies games with progressive jackpots in 2023 are titles that were published a long time ago. Back in the day these machines were released, it was a huge event for every title of the kind. Firstly, there were not so many new slots coming out regularly in general, meaning the competition was not as intense. Secondly, the phenomenon of progressive jackpots itself was very new, and the players were excited about it. Last but not least, these titles were intensely advertised by gambling platforms, expanding their player bases even further.
Combined, these three factors made it a lot easier for the first progressive jackpot slots to pop off. Almost every new game in the category immediately received a ton of attention from the players. Moreover, every time a huge jackpot was hit, the media picked it up and covered it on TV and online, building up to the already strong trend these slots have set.
Player Retention
It is important to understand why the pioneers of the genre were so successful, but it does not help with the modern slots pokies titles not being able to repeat the success. To comprehend it, it would be enough to look at the matter from the players’ perspective. Whenever a new machine with a progressive jackpot is released, the users can choose between the old game and the new game.
There are several obvious reasons why the players would favor the old game in that case. First of all, the previous title already has a huge prize pool that the users have been contributing to for months. Secondly, the old and established title already has a history of successful payouts. Lastly, the old game is simply available at more online casinos than the newer one. Even though it makes perfect sense, it was surely not predicted at the time the genre was born.
What’s the Future?
With that in mind, it is reasonable for the players to wonder whether the trend will continue, and they will have to keep grinding old and clunky slots pokies games chasing a huge payout. The good news is that there already are some precedents in the industry that will help the developers resolve the issue.
Several solutions can be applied in order to help the new games to become competitive with progressive jackpot games that were published more than a decade ago, and many software providers are already implementing these techniques to their games.
The first approach relates to simply making a good and interesting game that has other selling points than the progressive jackpot feature. It enables the slot to gain a natural flow of players, therefore increasing its prize pool. The second method is more complex, but at the same time, more efficient. It relates to offering a progressive jackpot pool that is shared among several games. The Age of the Gods series by Playtech is a great example of that. Every new slot machine in the series contributes to the global prize pool.
