Greentube at 25: refocusing its content strategy to find the next hit

Greentube is marking its 25th anniversary by tightening the way it develops and promotes games, shifting from broad-volume releases to a more selective, data-led approach. The Vienna-headquartered studio — represented in this interview by Head of Global Sales and Marketing Markus Antl and Team Leader of Sales Operations Opher Ben Zvi — now operates in around 50 markets, most of them fully regulated, and is choosing precisely which jurisdictions to target for localised content.

Greentube content strategy: picking the markets that matter

Greentube’s long-standing split between globally portable titles and market-specific products remains roughly an 80:20 ratio, but the balance is now applied strategically rather than by default. Markus Antl says the company cannot realistically localise for every market it serves and must "pick your battles." Italy is Greentube’s biggest market and continues to grow; Austria and the Netherlands have seen purposeful localisation — in the Netherlands the studio brought AWP-style land-based concepts like Random Runner online to mirror the physical-machine experience.

The United States is explicitly named as a growth priority where Greentube is producing US-specific content. Markus notes stepper mechanics and lock-and-spin features were important to US players; Greentube adapted those mechanics from markets where they had already succeeded and reintroduced refined versions back into the US. That cycle produced recent portfolio additions that include Piggy Prizes and Rumble Riches.

Fewer launches, higher investment: how the release model has changed

Greentube previously pushed out 40–60 games a year with the expectation of broad certification and distribution. The company has tightened that pipeline. From the larger slate, around 10–15 titles now receive a significant, central marketing push each year, while others are promoted locally or held back pending early data.

Antl described the new discipline: launch where a game fits, monitor early indicators, and add markets only if the data supports expansion. This conserves certification resource and concentrates marketing spend on titles with higher probability of traction.

Data-driven promotion and the product index

Opher Ben Zvi says Greentube has moved from a qualitative judgement — "this is a great game" — to a granular, quantitative evaluation. The company now uses an index combining stakes, gross gaming revenue (GGR), active players and uptake (day one, week one, month one). That index informs promotion timing and geography.

"We want to know why it is a great game, where it is a great game and when we should promote it," Ben Zvi said, describing a tool that recommends not only a title but also contextual promotional mechanics.

The team can advise operators about the combination of title, promotion type and timing — for example, pairing a specific slot with a cashback offer during a payday window — and can draw on cross-market signals to improve the recommendation.

Local market insight: sales, operators and NOVOMATIC heritage

Greentube leverages NOVOMATIC’s land-based footprint when helpful, but it also mines operator feedback and competitor performance data. When entering South Africa the studio consulted NOVOMATIC colleagues to understand land-based success there. Antl stresses the mix: some ideas come from land-based heritage; others are evidence-led observations from online markets.

The company has increased direct involvement of sales in product decisions. Studios now pitch concepts that go to the board and the Director of Games Portfolio with sales in the room, shortening the feedback loop and creating commercial ownership of ideas. Greentube runs periodic Game Days where international sales teams bring market-by-market intelligence and even use AI to mock up concepts pre-development.

Can a new Book of Ra still emerge in today’s market?

Book of Ra is celebrating its 25th anniversary and both Antl and Ben Zvi acknowledge the environment is tougher for producing franchise-defining titles. Antl said blockbusters are still possible but rarer because major operators can host hundreds of suppliers and dozens of new releases daily. Visibility windows are shorter: sometimes a title must make an impact in hours rather than weeks.

The response is tactical: invest in a smaller number of launches and back them with data, operator relationships and promotional funding. If a title underperforms initially but the company believes in its mechanics, Greentube will propose further testing with operators, offer discounted or free placement, or invest directly in repositioning.

Product examples, roadmap timing and marketing alignment

Greentube plans names and timing into the roadmap. Two music-themed titles—Highway to Bell Stack & Collect and Stairway to Sevens Stack & Collect—were scheduled for release in September, reflecting operator feedback that the genre was under-served in some markets. The company measures early uptake metrics and will scale certification and promotion based on those numbers.

Antl now manages both sales and marketing to ensure proposition and storytelling are built into a game from concept stage. He estimates the end-to-end cycle from idea to live can take a year to 18 months, so the full effect of these structural changes should become visible toward the end of this year and into next.

What operators and B2B partners should expect

Operators will see fewer globally pushed releases and more targeted launches tailored to jurisdictional preferences. Greentube’s more selective marketing spend and tighter product-market fit mean operators can expect the studio to present stronger cases for promotional support and clearer metrics that justify placement.

The company positions this approach as mutual: operators gain contextual recommendations and the ability to trial concepts without additional cost, while Greentube reduces wasted certification and marketing effort.

Takeaway for suppliers and platform partners

The strategic shift rewards suppliers and vendors who can support selective rollouts: analytics that prove early traction, flexible certification pipelines and promotional integrations. For Greentube, the aim is to convert product and sales alignment, plus operator trust, into the occasional franchise that can sustain long-term value — a modern route to find the next Book of Ra.