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KamaGames said its 2020 revenue rose 38% to $125.1 million. That makes for a sixth consecutive year of revenue growth, and the growth rate was 1.5 times the average of 24.4% for the social casino market and double the 18% growth rate of mobile games.
Games such as Pokerist have made Dublin, Ireland-based KamaGames, which bases much of its operations in Eastern Europe, into the largest European social mobile poker operator, the company said.
The 10-year-old company has 250 employees, and it has reached 150 million unique players (and 4 million monthly active users). The company doesn’t disclose its actual profits, but KamaGames CEO Andrey Kuznetsov said in an email to GamesBeat that the company hit record profits.
“KamaGames has always held a strong focus on the regular rollout of new high-quality games, features, and mechanics that serve to keep our players constantly engaged with our apps,” Kuznetsov said. “This has been a pivotal element in our continuing growth in the social casino space, ahead of the overall market. Another core component of our success is our strategic partnerships with iconic and globally recognized brands. In 2020, we teamed up with the famed Hard Rock International to bring Hard Rock Blackjack to fruition while also working with a number of top UFC athletes. More recently, we continued in this trend with the announcement of our latest partnership with the well-known sporting brand, All Elite Wrestling.”
KamaGames attributes its growth in 2020, in part, to the rollout of new content and updates of games hosted within its apps. Among these 2020 updates are the launch of new poker and blackjack tournaments, new benefits for VIP players, and new in-game events. Those new events include ratings, various promotions, along with new slots, video poker machines, and more. The company focused on advertising monetization and customer relationship management.
Above: Andrey Kuznetsov, CEO of KamaGames
Image Credit: KamaGames
“2020 was a year that certainly was different from all those previous to it,” Kuznetsov said. “On one hand, the pandemic significantly affected the working process. We had to adapt to the situation and begin work remotely. On the other hand, the social casino and mobile games market increased significantly. In 2020, we fulfilled almost every goal we outlined for ourselves at the beginning of the year. Now, the priority for KamaGames is the continuing development and improvement of the products in our portfolio.”
In 2020, KamaGames’ flagship title, Pokerist, remained the third largest social poker game in the world and the leader in 12 countries. KamaGames also rose to become the No. 1 poker app by revenue on iOS in Spain. Besides the Hard Rock Blackjack game, the company also launched Durak, a game for the Eastern European market.
“The stand-out feature of Hard Rock Blackjack is the inclusion of high caliber, 3D versions of classic casino table games including roulette, craps, baccarat, and of course, the core title within the app, blackjack,” Kuznetsov said. “In addition, this includes a number of other casino-style games such as slots and video poker, familiar to even the most casual of players. The game has been growing steadily since launch and we are planning an update to its current offering very soon.”
Above: You can play roulette in the Hard Rock Blackjack app.
Image Credit: KamaGames
KamaGames’ second-largest product, Blackjackist, also grew by more than 40% in revenue, more than half of which came from the U.S. Blackjackist is the global leader among social blackjack games, the company claims.
“Durak was originally released in August of 2020 and since then, KamaGames has made strides to adjust and improve this offering, resulting in already impressive gains,” Kuznetsov said. “We experienced approximately 1.5 million downloads for the first two months, not to mention first-day retention (RR1) rates consisting of over 45%. We fully intend to keep developing this product with the greatest confidence that, given time, it will continue to grow in both revenue and player numbers.”
The company’s other games also remained leaders in their market in the previous year. For instance, Roulettist showed 70% revenue growth and is still the largest social roulette game in the world.
Another key component to KamaGames’ success in 2020 was the cultivation of key partnerships with quality brands such as the Hard Rock. KamaGames also created ad campaigns with global UFC athletes such as Tony Ferguson, Colby Covington, and UFC champion Petr Yan.
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