Yggdrasil managing and product director Tomasz Kowalik, responsible for the YGG Champions program, discusses the company’s new studio partner, the strategy of building games around a clearly defined audience, and the value this approach can deliver to operators within the Yggdrasil network.
With dozens of new slots entering the market each month, standing out is an increasingly demanding task. What gives a game the potential to attract thousands of players in such a crowded landscape? For 24Karot, the answer starts with a clear understanding of its intended audience: US players.
The studio made its debut this month with Buffalo Horizon, a title that sets out its creative direction. Familiar themes and intuitive gameplay form the foundation, complemented by a fresh twist designed to surprise without adding unnecessary complexity.
Through Yggdrasil’s YGG Champions program, 24Karot is bringing that approach to market with the support of Game in a Box, Yggdrasil’s newest technology. The platform enables faster production and greater control over the development process, giving the studio more flexibility to refine its ideas as games take shape.
Why did 24Karot choose a buffalo theme for its debut title?
For the 24Karot team, US players were a priority as a target group, so the thinking was simple: what could be more American than buffalo? The studio wanted its first game to feel immediately rooted in American culture and to reflect the kind of content it wants to create. Several different directions were considered within the studio, but buffalo felt like the most natural choice for them.
24Karot takes a lot of inspiration from land-based slots and familiar American themes, so this was a very good starting point for their brand.
Which classic slot elements did you bring into Buffalo Horizon, and what new features give the game its own identity?
Buffalo Horizon starts with a very classic slot structure. It’s a 5×3 game with 25 paylines, paying from left to right, with expanding Wilds as another familiar feature. The main twist is the Rooftop Slot, which can modify what happens on the main reels in both the base game and Free Spins. It can, for example, change the game to pay both ways and introduce another booster during Free Spins, or trigger Ranger Spins – additional spins featuring a large 3×3 symbol.
The theme follows a similar idea. Buffalo is very traditional, but the studio combined it with American landscapes, national parks and the ranger character to give the game a slightly different identity.
How did the idea for the Rooftop Slot come about, and what does it add to the player experience?
The idea behind the Rooftop Slot, from what the studio told us, was actually quite simple. The game already had a solid core, but the studio wanted something that could occasionally change the experience without completely changing how the game works.
The Rooftop Slot introduces modifiers that can affect the main gameplay, add boosters, or change the way certain features behave. The important part was not to let it take over the whole game. It’s there to enhance the core experience, add variety, and create small moments of surprise while keeping the gameplay familiar and straightforward.
How do you balance the familiarity players enjoy with new ideas that give them a reason to try a game?
It’s always a question of how far a game should move away from what players already know. A very classic game can be immediately familiar, but without anything new it can also become predictable quite quickly.
The approach with Buffalo Horizon was to start with a strong, recognizable foundation and then look at what could be changed or added to make it more interesting. The studio deliberately didn’t want to move too far away from the classic slot experience. The idea was to introduce enough variation to surprise the player occasionally, but without overwhelming the core gameplay.
What’s on the roadmap for 24Karot in Q4, following the launch of Buffalo Horizon?
Q4 is looking really strong for 24Karot, with three releases. First, there’s X Wheel Deal, a very classic 3×3 slot with a Fortune Wheel mechanic. Then there’s 3 Whales of Fortune, built around a 3 Pots mechanic and taking a slightly more story-driven approach to the theme.
In December, Flight of Thunderbird brings a strongly American theme, Wild multipliers, respins and three different Bonus Game modes. So, it’s a good mix: one very classic title, one built around the 3 Pots mechanic, and one more feature-driven game with an American-born identity.
What does 24Karot bring to operators and players that might otherwise be missing from the market?
As part of the YGG Champions program, 24Karot has access to Game in a Box technology, enabling faster development and greater control throughout production, so the studio can respond more quickly to market demand.
Thanks to Game in a Box, the studio can adjust mechanics during development, math or server-side logic without rebuilding everything from scratch, and test different gameplay directions before the final version. It also shortens the time to market and makes it much easier to experiment with alternative versions of a game.
At the same time, 24Karot creates games for players who enjoy simple, social and fun experiences. The studio knows its audience, and Game in a Box gives the team the flexibility to respond to those players faster. It’s a recipe for success. At Yggdrasil, we’re delighted to partner with a studio that builds games for a target audience where we see significant growth potential.
The YGG Champions program now has four studios under its umbrella. What sets their games apart from Yggdrasil’s core portfolio?
The main difference is the market focus. Yggdrasil is the core brand and still carries a lot of the original Yggdrasil identity: strong art direction, distinctive visuals, proven mechanics and heritage closely connected to the Nordic markets.
The YGG Champions brands, apart from having different studio teams creating and owning the games, are more targeted in their content. Their games can still be available worldwide, but the games are designed with specific markets and player groups in mind. That is why we have invested in a “house of brands” logic in the first place – not diluting what Yggdrasil content looks like and who is it made for but instead bring in specialist teams that can cover the needs of even more players.
For example, Fish and Chips is focused more on the UK market, Suits & Royals targets classic experienced players, and Slightly Edgy look forward the young, experimental players.
How important is a clear player focus for boutique studios looking to stand out in an overcrowded market, and how does that shape your approach to 24Karot?
Player focus is absolutely critical, especially in such a crowded market. Games from 24Karot are built specifically with the broader US market in mind, and even within that market the studio isn’t trying to make games for everyone. Player tastes have become too fragmented for that.
If a studio loses that focus and tries to please everybody, it can very quickly end up making a game for nobody. So, the studio’s approach is to be very clear about who the games are being built for, listen closely to that audience, and react to what players respond to. At the same time, the studio doesn’t want to only follow existing trends; it also wants to introduce something new.
That balance is important: give players something they recognize, but also something fresh enough to stand out.
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