One of the most competitive spaces in UK business is iGaming. Not only are there perhaps hundreds of platforms offering online casino games, but within each platform, several developers are pumping out new games monthly to compete on the pages and appeal to the vast British audience.
Something that’s started to become clear to many is how, when applied correctly, even the most seemingly random theme can find its place in this hyper-competitive space. From this, we can draw out our own inspirations for product development and business offerings in general.
A most unlikely combination lands
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Both Fishin’ Frenzy and Big Bass Bonanza have spawned a huge line of spin-offs and adaptations, making for a grand range of real cash slot games. Among the featured games now are Fishin’ Frenzy Even Bigger Catch and Big Bass Splash, but most others remain popular as well – particularly Fishin’ Frenzy The Big Catch and Big Bass Bonanza Keeping it Reel.
Given how popular both slot franchises have become, despite being fairly similar in theme and features, there’s a clear UK fandom for the fishing theme overall. For the older franchise, most players still prefer Reel Time Gaming’s original fishing game, Fishin’ Frenzy, while the spin-offs don’t tend to hold water for too long. For Reel Kingdom and the Big Bass series, the June 2022 release of Big Bass Splash certainly made a splash and still ranks among the most popular of their UK slots.
It, perhaps, shouldn’t come as a surprise that the fishing theme is doing so well in online slots among UK platforms. Leisure fishing, particularly freshwater angling, is doing particularly well. It’s been calculated that a cumulative total of 17 million days are enjoyed angling per year in the UK and that freshwater fisheries in England alone have an overall value of £1.7 billion. This figure is without considering additional benefits to those who partake, such as to health and, in some cases, biodiversity.
Combining popular themes for new products
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You’d probably be hard-pressed to find anyone who can draw a natural link between playing slots online and going fishing, but with the right application, two slot developers have proven that the formula works. Taken as a general rule of business and even product R&D, it shows that you can find success in an unrelated product by drawing on popular themes or ideas.
This isn’t to say that you essentially need to become a general store and host a huge range of unrelated products to hit on what’s popular in the moment. Rather, home in on your key product lines and see if there’s a way to develop new versions in a way that taps into what’s popular in the local area or nationwide. As an example, dog toys are among the top trending products online, and you can bet that a good amount of those sales are driven by pivots to popular themes, such as superhero-themed dog toys.
In a perfect storm of popular leisure entertainment, fishing slots continue to be among the top-ranking and most popular iGaming creations. Other customer-facing businesses should take note of this, seeking to bring in or develop products that draw from what’s clearly become popular in entertainment and beyond.
