Yann Bautista: "We've always been about making distinctive, high-quality games"

In this interview with Yann Bautista, Commercial Director and Founder at Peter & Sons, Casino Guru News finds out more about the studio’s global expansion, its entry into new and key regulated markets, and the philosophy driving its standout slot titles. Yann discusses ongoing partnerships, aggregation strategies, and where the slot market is heading in 2025.

Q: Yann, it’s excellent to have this opportunity to talk to you. A lot has been happening with Peter & Sons over the past several months. For starters, you’ve really been pushing forward with expanding your operator footprint. Are you happy with the results so far in 2025?

The beginning of 2025 has been very positive for us. We’ve been pushing hard on the sales side, expanding our commercial teams, and focusing on all the markets where we hold licenses. Since we have quite a lot of licenses worldwide, our teams are very active across regions.

We’re onboarding new operators all the time, and I feel we’re still only scratching the surface. We’ve gone live with tier-one operators in multiple regions and entered regulated markets such as Spain, Portugal, Greece, and the Netherlands — we recently launched with NLO there — as well as Brazil-

What’s really encouraging is the feedback from operators. Our identity as a studio has always been about high quality, creativity and strong production values, and I think that’s paying off now. It makes our content an easy sell, and the uptake so far has been excellent.

Q: You entered the Brazilian market in February. How have things been going locally for you? Have you noticed any content trends you needed to specifically adapt to, and is the Peter & Sons portfolio and development process ready for that?

Brazil has been a very exciting step for us. We entered the regulated market in February after acquiring our license, which for us as a highly regulated provider is key — it gives us credibility and allows us to build long-term relationships with operators. We launched early through PlayUZU.br and BacanaPlay.br, and the reception so far has been very positive, with strong demand and great feedback from operators.

In terms of content trends, it’s still a bit early to say. For now, we’re offering our full portfolio and doing what we do best, while monitoring player preferences. On the development side, adapting to compliance and certification is part of our DNA as a highly regulated provider, so the process has been smooth. Brazil is shaping up to be one of the biggest iGaming markets in the world, and for us, it’s just the beginning.

Q: You have leveraged your position as a leading supplier to seek closer collaboration with others, such as Yggdrasil. Have such partnerships paid off so far, and why are they beneficial for all parties involved?

When we launched Peter & Sons, we didn’t yet have our own platform, so collaborations with partners like Yggdrasil through the YG Masters program and Relax Gaming through Silver Bullet were essential. We built games on their RGS, and they supported us with distribution, sales, and marketing. That gave us broad coverage and access to many markets under their licenses — it was a win–win relationship that really helped us establish credibility early on.

In 2023 we took the next step with the acquisition of our own platform and licenses in major regulated markets, and since then our focus has shifted to direct distribution — integrating our platform with operators and also with aggregators.

Still, those early partnerships were fundamental in accelerating our growth, and they continue to complement our strategy today.

Q: Peter & Sons recently teamed up with QTech Games, seeking to expand the number of operators able to browse your content. Are aggregation opportunities such as these important to your overall strategy?

Yes, aggregation opportunities are very important to our overall strategy. Aggregators like QTech still play a big role. They allow us to reach operators and players in regions where building a direct presence would take longer, and they give us extra visibility in competitive markets.

For us, it’s about balance. Direct integrations help us build deeper relationships with operators, but aggregation complements that by widening our distribution and making our games available to an even broader audience. At the end of the day, it’s all about making sure players everywhere can easily access and enjoy our content.

Q: In 2025, you will have released several prominent titles. Has your core development philosophy changed, and what’s new when it comes to building games this year?

Our philosophy hasn’t really changed — we’ve always been about making distinctive, high-quality games with bold art direction and strong mechanics. That’s still the core of everything we do in 2025.

Just to mention a few: this year we’ve released Blood Club, a high-volatility slot packed with sticky coin collection and reel multipliers — a darker twist that’s been very well received. We also launched Ghostfather Awakened, the second of the sequel and very P&S to the core, and Alibi, where we explored a different storytelling approach. More recently, we launched Dig It!, a gem-based 7×7 Cluster Pays slot built around sticky, moving wild multipliers that grow with every cascade — highly dynamic and explosive. And coming up soon is Barbarossa 3, the continuation of our best-performing series, and one of the most anticipated titles for us and for operators this year.

Q: What is one big prediction you can make for the slot market for the rest of the year and perhaps into 2026?

I think the slot market will continue to move towards differentiation — players are becoming more selective, and recycled ideas won’t cut it. Studios that combine strong math models with unique, high-quality experiences will stand out.

We’ll also see more consolidation and expansion into regulated markets like Latin America and North America, which puts the spotlight on licensed providers like us. At the same time, new technologies — from AI-driven personalization to modular platforms and even Web3 concepts — will influence how players engage with content. For us, the mission stays the same: keep innovating, keep raising quality, and make sure our games feel fresh and relevant everywhere they’re played.

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