True Lab’s new CEO, Igor Samardziski, expressed his faith in the company’s content moving forward and noted his experience in getting these games operating in various markets around the globe.
Recently announced as the company’s CEO at “a crucial moment for the studio”, True Lab hailed “his deep range of expertise in the igaming market” upon his announcement, with the firm expecting to evolve into a big player in the market and strengthen its position across the coming years.
Speaking to CasinoBeats, Samardziski explained what enticed him to take up the CEO position, how his previous roles shaped him to handle the period that lies ahead and his key goals for True Lab moving forward under his leadership.
Samardziski noted that, when observing the company’s catalogue of slot titles, he expressed his faith in True Lab’s quality of titles, both present and in the pipeline.
He commented: “When I look at our game quality, when I look at both statistical representations, at the theme, concept art processes and so on, I have so much faith.
“I’ve doubled the production requirements for next year. So more titles, we have done that very strategically, in terms of breaking down things based on different game styles, different player demographics.
“We started by structuring players and player behaviour analysis and applying game concepts to players. And introducing a reformatting of the production line to the existing theme and expanding on things.
“So honestly, the key goal isn’t even about revenue straightaway, which is weird for a CEO to say, but it is about delivering the right product to the market. It is about understanding the market. And it is about developing a business relationship that is nested in understanding the operators and their gripes, grievances and challenges throughout their operation, applying that knowledge to us then I mean, revenue will come.”
Revealing how the opportunity with True Lab came to be, Samardziski reflected back to his first interaction with the company and how everything led towards the position he finds himself in.
“I’ve been on the C-Level for a while, usually on the operation side,” he explained. “I sold my business back in 2018. So it took a while to decide whether I want to take on another leadership role. And sort of take a more I would say micromanaging approach to business rather than sort of pull back from the investment perspective.
“In the last couple of years, after exiting the day to day operations. I’ve consulted some businesses, some very large scale companies… This is how I came across True Lab.
“Actually, at the time, one of the shareholders had approached me about some consultancy for their operations. And during the conversation, I mean, I’ve consulted really big businesses and usually I feel like I know what to contribute, and what to say and who to educate.
“And these are companies that have been around for a while, and they had a structure and then these couple of shareholders come out and say, ‘Hey, we are from blockchain, initially, industry, we really want to get in the game. We want to create something great, something worthwhile’.
“I didn’t take them that seriously. Honestly, they were like, you know, there’s so many small businesses that come out and then we really want to make something big.
“But the guys in a span of a year, year and a half, had built a platform, fully fledged operation platform, which is really good. Now, after three platforms in my life, two of them got sold for a lot of money. So I know what it takes to build a platform. It’s not easy, especially not in like a year and some change.
“They’ve done that and built an operation that had a couple of operating assets against the startup costs of a games studio. So back then a couple of years ago because I said, ‘guys, there’s not much I can consulate on, you’re already ahead of most companies I’ve seen.
“I felt like I would be stealing money if I came in and told you do this, do that. I’m not sure if I could do it, too. So you know, just get on with your journey and good luck.’
“We kept in touch and and for me, it was a few years after the sale, I had already settled into my sort of retirement and got the itch to get back into the game. I knew I didn’t want to do operations, and serendipity, man, it was really the right time.
“One of the shareholders reached out like, ‘Hey, are you still available?’ I said, ‘actually, I’m considering getting back in the game’. The guys have done phenomenally well since then. And they were still as impressive as they were back then and I kind of felt if I’m going to take a shot working and leading a business is going to be with the team that I already believed in from the very beginning.”
Within the video, Samardziski went on to highlight his ambitions for the company, how True Lab will develop titles moving forward, and how it will enhance its responsible gaming commitments.
