Alina Dandörfer: “German accent means quality – and quality works everywhere”

Apparat Gaming has a specific approach to iGaming, which heavily leans on the German touch. This "German touch" is something that, the company likes to joke about, comes with absolutely no sense of humor. This approach has been taking the world by storm, with the studio’s games demonstrating a high commitment to visual and gameplay quality. Today we sit down with Apparat Gaming Co-Founder and Director Alina Dandörfer to help us better understand this new, coming, and definitely entertaining supplier.

Q: Apparat Gaming prides itself on the "German touch" approach to game development it has. Is this a localized phenomenon or a brand that has the potential to scale internationally?

Let me guess: This is not a question you would ask a car manufacturer, for example, is it? But since the question is justified for us as newcomers, everything is fine.

If I try to summarize what makes our German accent so special, it is, apart from the almost stereotypical reliability, above all the demand for quality, especially visually, in the appearance, then a reduction to the essentials, where sometimes less is more, and then as a secret ingredient a certain edginess, also somewhat old-fashioned, which is definitely due to the German player preferences.

Because Germany is our market. It’s where we live, work and play. We see it as the market that we work for – we are super focused on creating slots that players in Germany want to play. But this "Made in Germany" approach has also hit the mark with players in other European markets from the Nordics to Switzerland, the Netherlands and more. This is because our slots with a German accent deliver the experience not only German players are seeking. Quality works everywhere – it doesn’t matter where it comes from. Although in our opinion, it is always better when it comes from Germany.

Q: Your studio has already been attracting serious investment from the likes of Yolo Group. How has the increased capital inflow helped you provide customers with a better product?

Developing games is not cheap, and developing games with a certain minimum standard is even less so. Especially since last year's experiences, especially with German regulation, have not exactly made life easier for us in terms of revenue.

The investments we have received from the Yolo Group and others have ensured that Apparat Gaming is sufficiently capitalized for the road ahead to be able to continue to compete for the shelf space at the operators in terms of both quality and quantity. First of all, the development of elaborate games is an investment in the future, and it will take some time for us, who are not yet listed with hundreds of operators, to pay it off. And if, as a newcomer, you have planned to produce 20 demanding games in the next 12 months, you can't do that just from cash flow.

Q: Speaking of product, what are the specifics of the content that Apparat Gaming develops? What is your guiding principle in bringing titles to market?

Every game developer has the ambition to create games that players want to play. As a relatively young company, we are only at the beginning of our journey and are not here to bring crazy ideas and concepts to the market - at least not yet - and instead, focus on getting all the basics of a slot game absolutely right.

While the initial focus since our first release about a year ago was to expand our portfolio to cover all classic formats and themes, including fruit games, Hold & Spin and ancient Egyptian slots, we are currently expanding the spectrum.

In addition to so-called lighthouse games, which will deal specifically with German topics four times a year, we always try to remix popular and proven game mechanics. Our approach is not so much to invent something completely new, but to combine popular game mechanics and features in such a way that they combine their strengths into something yet unseen and new.

As a specific example for the next of our lighthouse games, which should be visible from afar and stand for our German Accent, we would like to mention our October Bier Frenzy, which will be released just in time for the Munich Oktoberfest, probably the most famous booze-up in the world. We almost brewed our own beer to go with the game, but you must set priorities. But the game turned out really great.

Q: You have had a busy development pace as of late. Has it been difficult to balance between delivering content and scaling its reach?

We have a solid product plan that calls for another 20 games over the next 12 months. This is ambitious for such a young studio, but we are confident that we can achieve this goal. Distribution is tricky for all studios, but with the right partners, it's possible to connect with the biggest operators and brands in the market and integrate your games into their lobbies. That’s what we have done, with our slots now live with tier-one brands in Germany, Switzerland, the UK and many more jurisdictions. Once games are live with a decent number of operators, momentum builds, and you find you are regularly signing up operators and integrating your games into their lobbies. Apparat now has this momentum behind it.

Q: What are Apparat Gaming's biggest expectations for the rest of the year?

We are going to keep doing our thing so that more players than ever before can enjoy that "Made in Germany" experience when spinning the reels on our slots. This means more game launches, more market entries and more operator partnerships. It will be a challenging year for Apparat Gaming and one in which we want to evolve from a start-up to a rising star.

We are especially excited to see how our home market of Germany continues to open and grow now that it is regulated, and we are also making strides in Switzerland where we have quickly become a must-have provider. Of course, we have come to learn to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to regulation, but it’s my belief that if you can make it in a market such as Germany, you can make it anywhere and that gives me huge confidence in the success that Apparat Gaming can and will achieve in 2023 and beyond.

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