Yggdrasil on the up in H1-2015 update

Malta-headquartered Yggdrasil Gaming has had an eventful first half 2015 with the launch of its HMTL5 framework, iSENSE 2.0 and its first progressive jackpot “Joker Millions” along with the opening of a new office in Poland, amid other notable developments.

In an H1/2015 update, the company said it had signed 11 agreements in total including BetClic Everest Group and GVC, while six operators had signed up for Joker Millions including BetClic, Betsson, Cherry and LeoVegas .

Of its 24 contracts, 20 have gone live and game royalties had doubled compared to H2/2014.

The company has also expanded into the Asian market with the signing of an unnamed Asian social and mobile in-app purchase operator.

“The first half of 2015 has been excellent for Yggdrasil. We invested heavily in H2 2014 with the launch of our in-house HTML5 framework iSENSE 2.0 and that investment has really paid off,” said Fredrik Elmqvist, chief executive officer of Yggdrasil

“There is going to be further investment in the product and games roadmap during the remainder of 2015. Our strategy remains that Yggdrasil games, platform and operational services are only available through direct partnerships and not through third parties”.

Looking ahead, the company will look to enter the UK market with a licence application scheduled for submission in the last quarter of the year.

“We wanted to make sure we had all the blocks in place before targeting the UK, but we have achieved so much in the first six months that we are ready to do so well ahead of schedule,” Elmqvist said.

Yggdrasil will discontinue its Curacao E-Zone licence saying it had previously been used to get clients rapidly on board while waiting for the Malta Gaming Authority to complete processing.

The beginning of its H2/2015 period has been encouraging with July, historically a slower month, beating records in terms of game performance as well as a 41 percent increase in game win month-on-month compared to June.

“We’re not aiming to be the biggest supplier by the end of the year, but we’re certainly planning to be the best, Elmqvist concluded.