4ThePlayer

About the Company

2018 saw the launch of 4ThePlayer, a mobile-first game development studio located in the United Kingdom. While the brand may be new, at least two of the people behind it have long careers in the iGaming industry. Hold onto your seat as we explore the company, the critical path wends a bit here and there.

The first thing to mention is that we became aware of the London-based firm when Yggdrasil Gaming announced that they had become the fifth Yggdrasil Game Server (YGS) Masters Studio Partner in February 2019. Prior to that they had slipped under our radar or had at least escaped this reviewer's attention.

The company joins Fantasma, Northern Lights, and Rabcat, along with Avatar UX - a Hong Kong-based developer announced around the same time.

Many in the industry see the success of Thunderkick, Quickspin, and Yggdrasil and point to competition for market dominance among them, especially in the Nordic regions. We see any competition as simply a good thing for end users as market forces and innovation drive each to produce new games superior to their last titles.

All three of the companies are in some way related to much bigger players. Thunderkick was spawned by NetEnt designers; Quickspin was scooped up by Playtech (PT) early on, and Yggdrasil was acquired in the majority by Cherry AB shortly after announcing they had signed their first supply contract with the Swedish giant in early 2013.

That brings us to the people behind 4ThePlayer. We'll get into the dynamics of the YGS Masters relationship further in.

The Founders

The company was founded in July 2018 by CEO, Andrew Porter and Chris Ash, co-founder of Ash Gaming. Art Director, Thomaz Scalzilli also seems to count the first month of operations in his experience.

Ash Gaming was first launched as Ash-Leuker in 2000 and relaunched under the current name in 2002. It was acquired by Playtech in 2011 after developing hundreds of slots, video poker, and virtual sports titles.

Several dozens of the games and over two dozen licenses were folded into Playtech. Innovative titles such as Midas Millions with over 100,000 "win lines", Alice's Wonderland, Amazon Wild, and Madness House of Fun are commonly referred to as Playtech titles, even though they were developed as Ash games.

CEO, Porter is no stranger to the PT brand either. After a three-year stint as Head of Marketing Design and then Poker Manager for the MiniVegas Group, prior to the eCogra certified stable's sale to Casino Rewards, he worked for Ash Gaming for over 13 years. This time period included pre- and post-acquisition operations.

Just prior to launching his current firm with Chris Ash, he spent about a year and a half in Gibraltar as Content Director for Playtech there.

Software and Games

As of review time, the company has not released any titles, nor had their inaugural game been announced. We can assume that the studio will use the HTML5 framework, as Yggdrasil announced the games as "mobile-first".

We can possibly get a feel for the coming games by looking at some public portfolios on the internet put together by their Art Director, Thomaz Scalzilli.

Scalzilli's personal work, and we assume, to some degree the art he will produce in the lab, seems to be well-suited to HTML5 rendering. His color palettes are simple yet intense, and his use of shading is excellent.

Some of the black and white images are gritty in subject matter, and all present a world where the viewer seems to be invited to explore. It is not an easy task for an illustrator to present an inviting narrative in a single frame, but Scalzilli seems to have mastered the hook.

From the humorous "Big Bait" to a portrait study of "The Coach" found on ArtStation, his scenes and character studies seem perfect for slot games. Behance is another online gallery with a few of his works on display. If you go to view, be sure to click through from the B&W to the color illustration where available and into the breakdown of image elements when provided.

Yggdrasil Game Server Masters

The Masters program, which gave 4ThePlayer their launch, was developed by Yggdrasil in order to recruit elite studios and independent teams to enhance the company's already volume and quality-rich offering. This offers developers in today's highly competitive market the chance to cut through the fog and get their games found and experienced by players.

Studios like 4ThePlayer can have their games delivered to more than 40 of the leading online casino operators in regulated markets worldwide. This should allow artists, mathematicians, designers, and their teammates to focus on creation and excellence rather than worrying about market penetration, contracts, certifications, and the like.

The company's iSense 2.0+ platform made big waves in the industry when it was revamped and provides a stable, tool-rich environment for game delivery. The user interface is minimalistic for both desktop and mobile and handles all user experience facilities.

Developers can also take advantage of the company's in-game promotional tools such as BOOST and BRAG. These include in-game tournaments, cash races, missions, and the BRAG social sharing tool.

Of course, the only feather in a cap any team needs is to join the expanding portfolio of Masters already participating.

The Final Analysis

We will review individual games as they are released. If any surprise beyond expectations or disappoint, we'll be sure to mention them in an updated review.

However, with the talent and power behind this studio, we expect only wonderful things. One hope we do have is that when games are released, each casino will give this and other YGS Master developers them their own category so they aren't lost among others as can happen with Quickfire partners at some sites.