Big Interview with Ilya Kazak, Head of PR at InOut Games

In my opinion, it takes time to create a truly successful game. You cannot build a hit product on the first attempt.

It is similar to Apple. The company did not release the iPhone immediately. First, it had to build a team, develop expertise, and go through years of product evolution. We had a similar path. At the beginning, we released more basic games, including Plinko-style products and other simple mechanics.

Later, when we had formed a strong product team, we started to experiment more confidently and create much stronger products. That is how we eventually developed Chicken Road, a game that showed very strong growth and helped us move to a new level.

I would not say that all providers actively work with the affiliate community. We saw this niche and decided to focus on it.

Many providers traditionally work through B2C channels, but we chose a B2B direction because the volume of B2B traffic can be much larger. To attract users directly, you often need to spend millions of dollars. In B2B, the approach is different.

Our goal is to build strong relationships with media buying teams, show them a product that performs well, and then scale that cooperation. If the game converts for them, we grow together. For us, it became a faster and more effective path. We saw the opportunity, started working with it, and most importantly, it worked.

I will answer honestly: 95% of the success comes from the product, and 5% is luck.

The product was strong. Teams tested it, saw that it worked, and it caught the attention of the market. We showed the community that the game could bring value first of all through performance.

You can create as much advertising as you want, buy placements in every media channel, and make a lot of noise. But if the product itself does not work, people will not continue using it. In this case, the game worked. I believe we were in the right place at the right time with the right product.

At the same time, I am absolutely sure that if we had not released Chicken Road 2, the number of players in the first Chicken Road would have been even higher. But we made that decision intentionally, and in our opinion, it was the right move. It helped us develop the product line and strengthen the brand around the mechanic.

Releasing the second version of Chicken Road was a very logical step.

As for another part, we have already released Rabbit Road. It is built on the same familiar mechanic, and users already understand how it works. Right now, it is converting very well.

I also have an important insight: based on Chicken Road, we have released our first slot from InOut Games. The market will soon learn more about it, or perhaps it already has.

The reason we started releasing more games is simple: success often depends on the number of products you launch.

Everyone knows that major music bands can have hundreds of songs, but only a smaller number become real hits. In our case, the logic is similar. It is a deliberate company strategy to release around four games per month for different markets.

We look closely at player behaviour across different regions and strengthen our strategy based on that data.

At the moment, one game is showing even stronger indicators than Chicken Road had at the time of its launch. That game is Squid Gambler, which was released specifically for the audience interested in the Squid Game trend.

In our opinion, for teams working with Asian traffic, this is a very strong moment to test the product and build campaigns around it.

They give us a lot.

We returned to the case study format, but with one important difference. Many people in the industry know that case studies are not something we invented. However, in recent years, many so-called cases were written by copywriters and did not contain real facts. They were not genuine.

Our condition with partners is different. The case must be written by the partner’s side: a Head of Affiliate, a team expert, or a person who actually worked with the traffic. The case must be real.

This is important because there are reputational risks. We direct people toward a specific game and a specific GEO. If it does not convert, it hurts both the team and us. We do not want that.

A real case about a real game, a real GEO, and real numbers is always much more valuable.

Personally, no one has criticised these games to my face. But seriously, my attitude toward crash games is similar to how people once viewed TikTok.

At first, TikTok was criticised for being only about dances and content for children. But look at what it became: a massive global company and one of the most influential platforms in the world.

With crash games, opinions are also mixed. I understand that. Some operators may not see the results they expect. But there are also operators with very strong retention who thank us for these games because they work well for their audience.

So I cannot fully confirm or deny the criticism. My advice is simple: learn how to work with this type of traffic. If you can adapt your funnel and retention strategy, you can succeed. If it does not work for your product, then focus on other formats. It is impossible to satisfy everyone.

For a game provider, presence at major international conferences is essential.

We prepared for that step strategically. The London conference was chosen on purpose. Before that, we had spent around half a year actively working at international events. We were present, created content, appeared with models, communicated with the audience, but we did not yet have a stand.

That was our warm-up phase for international brand recognition. By the time we arrived in London with a stand, people in the community already knew us, not only in the CIS market but also internationally.

There was one additional factor. Attendance at the Amsterdam event the previous year was much higher, partly because of visa challenges for some teams. In our case, the whole team received visas, we came to London, and we had many guests.

For us, the experience was positive. Offline events help build trust, visibility, and stronger relationships with operators and affiliates.

The idea is very simple.

We receive many requests from both affiliates and operators. Operators are looking for traffic, and affiliate teams are looking for operators that work with our games. We decided to bring everything together in one place.

We created a private Telegram channel. There will be around 2,300 people there, but we are not accepting beginners. People go through a short interview process and then receive approval.

Inside the channel, we will provide all necessary materials for our games. We will also publish private offers.

Previously, many requests had to be sent across 20, 30, or even 40 different chats. Information could easily get lost. Now we are bringing everything into one place so that both sides can receive what they need quickly and efficiently.

This is also useful for teams that want to prepare campaigns before a release. Some affiliates want to see games one or two weeks before launch, and we have the materials they need. The private channel helps us organise this process better.

In our opinion, it will become a comfortable private space where everyone can find what they need.

First, let’s talk about conferences.

We plan to be present with a stand in:

1. Rome;
2. Sri Lanka in December;
3. Barcelona in January;
4. London next year.

We invite everyone to visit our stand. Come meet us, get our merch, talk to the team, and see what we are preparing. We will be happy to meet operators, affiliates, and everyone interested in working with us.

As for releases, we plan to increase our game portfolio in arithmetic progression. I cannot give an exact number yet, but our roadmap is already planned until December, with four releases per month.

At the end of the year, we always review our results. Starting from January, we may expand our product team. We may also move more actively into slots. It is possible that we will release fewer crash games, but the market will see more strong slot products from us.

More details will come later, so follow our news and our channel igaming.