Anastasia, how does Player Space differ from more traditional loyalty and promotional mechanics already available?
Most traditional loyalty mechanics in iGaming are campaign-based. A tournament runs for a few days, a bonus offer has a fixed window, and once it ends, the player’s motivation resets to zero. There’s no continuity, no sense of progress, and no reason to come back beyond the next promotion.
Player Space takes a fundamentally different approach. It’s not a single campaign or a bonus tool; it’s a provider-level engagement ecosystem that creates a continuous player journey across multiple mechanics.
At its core is Season Pass, a progression system where players earn XP as they play, advance through 15 levels, collect Crystals, and spend them in an in-game Shop on rewards such as free spins. On top of that, there’s an Achievement System with additional goals and challenges, rewarding players for different play styles and long-term activity.
The key difference is that Player Space gives users a persistent reason to return. Instead of reacting to one-off promotions, players are building something: progressing, accumulating value, and engaging with a system that evolves season after season.
Why do you think giving players longer-term goals can be effective in driving engagement?
Short-term incentives create short-term behaviour. A bonus might bring a player back once, but it doesn’t necessarily build a habit or a sense of investment.
When a player has a longer-term goal, such as reaching the next level, unlocking a reward, or completing an achievement, they develop a sense of ownership over their progress. That changes the dynamic: the user isn’t just chasing a promotion; they’re building something within the ecosystem.
Our data supports this. Across multiple operator systems, we see that returning Player Space users, meaning those who come back from a previous season, generate significantly higher value. In some cases, gross gaming revenue (GGR) per returning user is up to 3.2 times higher than for new users. That’s not a coincidence. These are players who have already invested in their progression and see value in continuing it.
The seasonal structure reinforces this. Each new season refreshes goals and rewards, but the player’s relationship with the system carries over. It creates a cycle where engagement compounds over time rather than resetting.
How does the 15-level Season Pass work, and what role do XP and Crystals play in creating a sense of progression?
Season Pass is built around a clear, intuitive progression loop. When a player plays any Evoplay game, they earn XP, or experience points, tied to their gameplay activity. As XP accumulates, they advance through 15 levels within the season. Each level reached rewards the player with Crystals, an in-game currency that can be spent in the Player Space Shop on rewards such as free spins across different Evoplay games.
The beauty of this system is its simplicity: play, earn XP, level up, get Crystals, and spend them in the Shop. Every session contributes to progress, and every level feels like a tangible achievement.
XP creates a sense of movement, as the player always knows where they stand and how close they are to the next milestone. Crystals create a sense of value because they’re a reward the player has earned and can choose how to spend. Together, they transform a regular gaming session into a progression experience where the user feels they’re building towards something.
The Shop adds a layer of player agency. Instead of receiving a generic bonus, players decide what to spend their Crystals on, which makes the reward feel more personal and meaningful.
How much flexibility do operators have to tailor the experience to their own players?
Quite a lot, and that’s by design. We built Player Space to be adaptable because we know that no two operators have the same audience, market, or business goals.
On the Reward System side, operators can customise the XP thresholds for each level, the number of Crystals awarded per level, and the overall balance between reward frequency and value. This means an operator with a highly active player base can set a different progression pace from one with a more casual audience.
Importantly, all this customisation happens on our side. There’s no additional integration required from the operator. If they already support promotional functionality and free spins, Player Space can be activated quickly.
What does Player Space enable operators to do differently when it comes to retention and player engagement?
Player Space gives operators something they typically don’t have from a game provider: a continuous, always-on retention layer that works alongside their own CRM and bonus strategies.
Traditionally, retention is entirely the operator’s responsibility. They run campaigns, send offers, and manage bonus calendars. Player Space adds a complementary engagement system that runs within the games themselves, creating an additional reason for users to return that doesn’t depend on the operator’s promotional activity.
It also shifts the conversation from short-term activation to long-term player value. Our data from a specific operator case study shows that, after connecting Player Space, the number of unique players grew by 20%, rounds increased by 43%, and total bet sum rose by 41%. Crucially, the average bet size stayed virtually the same, moving from €0.89 to €0.87. That means the growth came from increased engagement rather than larger average bets.
In the following season, the effect compounded: returning users made up just 23% of the audience but generated 54% of GGR.
Your early-access data highlights the commercial value of returning players. What have you learned about player behaviour across seasons, and how can these insights help operators rethink their retention strategies?
We’ve learned three things that we think are significant for how operators approach retention.
First, returning players are disproportionately valuable. Across four operator systems, returning Player Space users consistently generate higher GGR per player than new users, in some cases up to 3.2 times higher and, in one specific operator case, 3.9 times higher. This represents a fundamentally different level of player value.
Second, retention compounds over time. Looking at operators connected to Player Space since its early stages, we found that nearly 30% of current players are long-term returning users across multiple seasons. The end of a season doesn’t mean the end of the player’s lifecycle within Player Space.
Third, engagement growth is organic. In our operator case study, the 41% increase in bet sum after connecting Player Space came without any increase in average bet size. Players weren’t betting more per round; they were playing more rounds, more often.
A system that builds a returning audience, with each season adding to a growing base of engaged players, creates compounding commercial value that one-off promotions simply can’t match.
Looking ahead, how do you see Player Space evolving, and what role could ecosystems like this play in the future of iGaming retention? What will success look like for Player Space over the next 12 months?
Player Space was designed from the start as a platform. Season Pass, the Achievement System, and the Shop are the foundation, but the ecosystem will continue to grow with new modules and mechanics that integrate into the same player journey.
We see the future of iGaming retention moving away from isolated, campaign-driven mechanics towards continuous engagement ecosystems, where players have an ongoing relationship with the product rather than a series of disconnected interactions. Player Space is built for exactly that model.
Over the next 12 months, success for us means three things.
Expanding the operator base by bringing Player Space to more partners across different markets and integration types, proving that the model works at scale.
Deepening personalisation by giving operators more tools to segment and tailor the experience, making Player Space a true loyalty layer that adapts to different player profiles and business objectives.
Growing the returning player base. The most important metric for us is the share of returning users and their long-term value. If we continue to see nearly 30% of players returning across seasons and generating significantly higher value, that validates our core thesis: provider-level engagement ecosystems can meaningfully contribute to player retention in ways that traditional mechanics cannot.