NextGen Gaming Details
WOW Studio Score:
History
NextGen Gaming was founded back in 1999 in Australia, where they began with an ethos of changing the world through gaming.
It took a little over a decade for a solid brand to be established, turning the head of NYX, who finally decided to acquire the company in 2011.
NYX provided a platform that would see NextGen’s games reach a far wider audience after relocating their main offices to London, where they had access to the British market.
On 20 September 2017, another juggernaut in the industry paralleled itself with NYX in a mission to dominate the online gambling industry.
Here, Scientific Gaming Corporation signed a deal to purchase NYX and its subsidiaries, including NextGen Gaming, for $631 million.
By the following year (2018), the existing SG Interactive wing of Scientific Gaming would merge with the NYX Interactive wing to rebrand as one unit, now named SG Digital.
This platform now offers a workforce of 1500 staff in 34 offices, with 40 gaming licences, offering 2,000 games on the Open Gaming System, to over 200 customers, worldwide.
More about NextGen Gaming
NextGen Gaming is a digital games developer for the online casino world, with around two decades of experience in supplying innovative gaming titles to over 100 prominent casinos around the globe.
NextGen Gaming is the pioneer of platform-independent content delivery, which offers enjoyment to players without boundaries. Providing games in both online and mobile segments, the company have produced strong ties to the social gaming sector, where they managed to win a notable award from EGR Magazine for their interactive social efforts in 2012.
NextGen Gaming's WOW StudioScore (WSS) - 78/100
With such a rich history, one would expect nothing less than an excellent score for the provider. However, strong new competitors have come up, which made it harder for NextGen to compete in some instances. This has resulted in an overall good rating of 78 for the company, which we have explained below:
- Game Quality Score - 78/100 - NextGen's games feel classic, but also add modern features to the mix. See why this earned them a 78 below:
- Graphics (Good Rating): The quality is high, though some designs may feel more vintage-looking than those of competitors' games.
- Sound (Good) - The audio complements the theme well, but it also comes up as generic at times. Plus, it doesn't feel as immersive as we would have liked.
- Feature Depth (Good) - Players can find a variety of familiar features and the occasional original creations. The focus is on free spins, multipliers and bonus rounds.
- Big Win Feel (Good) - Wins can be enjoyable, especially as most games offer a max win potential a bit higher than the game average (between 1,000x and 5,000x).
- Smooth Play - 76/100 - An average score due to the slightly slower loading speed and some minor optimisation issues we noticed.
- Load Time (3-5s) - Loading time is generally between 3 and 5 seconds for a game, which is just a bit slower than the average 2 seconds.
- Stability (1-2%) - Issues with the game, such as lags or crashes, are rarely reported. We can confirm, as per our tests, we noticed just a few minor issues and thus can conclude that a standard 1-2% crash rate per 100 sessions is expected.
- Mobile Optimisation (Good) - Games are optimised to play smoothly, even on smaller screens.
- Fairness & Transparency - 84/100 – With over two decades in the industry, NextGen knows the importance of being fair and transparent to its players. However, there's always room for improvement, in this case because of:
- Certification (Multi-market) - NextGen is certified to operate in different markets and thus, regulated by some of the top licensing authorities for the purpose.
- RTP Transparency (Fixed & in‑game) - RTP information can be found in all games when you click on more info and scroll down to the end of the page.
- Jackpot/RNG Disclosure (Audited) - RNG fairness is audited by independent labs, but details could be more easily accessible, as documents are not publicly shared.
- Licensing & Compliance - 84/100 - A great rating for a provider that's licensed by some of the best regulators and has a clean legal history. Below, we explain what was lacking for it to have a perfect score:
- License Breadth (UKGC/MGA) - Licensed from some of the Tier-1 authorities (UKGC, MGA) plus other regulatory bodies.
- Sanctions History (Clean) - NextGen's legal past is clean and there are no ongoing issues. However, its parent company, Light & Wonder, has had the occasional run-ins with the law, which was reflected in the score.
- Game Library - 69/100 - NextGen presents a great library, when it comes to volume. However, issues with diversity and distribution contributed to the lower overall score.
- Total Titles (300+) - The provider has a broad portfolio of over 300 games. However, not all are available at a single casino. If you want to try your luck playing a NextGen creation, we recommend you go to 20BET Casino.
- Category Coverage (Narrow) - The majority of those games are slots. However, as a slot-centred provider, you can find a lot of diversity in subgenres, such as TV & Film slots, classic games, jackpots, etc.
- Innovation - 73/100 - Efforts in innovation are commendable, but to be honest, we expected more from a company called NextGen Gaming. If you want to see the latest in trends and innovations, we suggest you browse through Nolimit City's portfolio.
- New Mechanics (Occasional) - There are the occasional new and original mechanics, including trademark features like Super Bet, Slide Wild, etc.
- Distinctiveness (Generic) - NextGen games are known for being fun and quirky, but other than the feel and a distinctive feature or two, they are more likely to come across as generic to the ordinary player.
- Casino Presence - 80/100 - The company has a strong casino presence worldwide, especially in Europe.
- Market Fit & RG - 79/100 - Last but not least, we consider the score for market fit and RG efforts based on localisation and RG compliance.
- Localisation (Good) - Although the focus is on English-speaking markets, there are many different variants (language or specific to different countries) available.
- RG Compliance (Partial) - The company's commitment shows through the resources they provide to their players. However, in-game tooling could be a bit more accessible if they want to earn a perfect score.
Awards and prestige
Though SG Interactive and NYX are multiple award winners, NextGen Gaming has also been recognised for their contribution to the market. One of their primary awards was that of EGR B2B Award for Social Gaming Supplier of the Year in 2012. The valuable social gaming niche offered by NextGen Gaming is one of many reasons that SG Digital is such a force to be reckoned with in the digital iGaming sphere.
Responsible gambling and regulation
NextGen Gaming and SG Digital as a whole, are fully committed to responsible gambling. Certain system features are pro-actively developed into the NextGen Gaming software to ensure the safety and security of players while using the platform.
In adherence to the stringent oversight of multiple regulating bodies across the globe, the company ensures fair and ethical gaming by way of the employment of a Random Number Generator to govern the outcomes of all games. All games, administration and security software are submitted to external auditors on a regular basis to ensure the authenticity of the platform games in order to safeguard players.
Due to its position within SG Digital, NextGen Gaming now has to license in many of the most prominent gaming jurisdictions regulated by:
As well as the Gambling and Supervisory Commission of the Isle of Man.
NextGen Gaming games and software
The ethos of NextGen Gaming says it all: “To strive to create games that deliver extraordinary entertainment and quality, with integrity and in collaboration with our partners.”
Slots-centered!
NextGen has always been concentrated on online slots design and provision to online casinos. Their ensemble of games includes a wide girth of themes and styles, from video slots to 3 reel classics, to Vegas slots, and progressive network jackpots slots. Themes range from adventure, to historical, to horror, to comedy, to film and TV, to branded titles, to holiday slots and much more.
You are sure to recognise the quality when looking upon their slot game selection, made available, right here on this page, by CasinoWow as a shortcut to gaming pleasure.
The company's winning recipe is a passion for top-quality games and valued teamwork. This outlook has caused them to manufacture great game titles, such as:
Brace yourself for combat on the reels of NextGen Gaming’s 300 Shields Extreme slot machine. Defeat Warriors to increase your wins with up to x300 Warrior multipliers in the slots Free Games bonus round! To the victor go the spoils, and you could win up to 17,773x your bet today!
Jackpot Jester 200000 is a classic fruit slot that brings the feel of Las Vegas right to your home! This NextGen slot has all the features one would expect, including a Super Game that could win you a huge jackpot of €200,000!
Ruff the Dragon has arrived from A Dragon’s Story slot machine to entertain and reward you on his very own scratch card! Help him scare off knights and commoners who are set on stealing his gold… and you might find a way to take some for yourself.
NextGen Gaming produces online slot games predominantly, for play via instant browser action via your desktop, laptop or mobile device. Because the company has a narrow and specialised view on one type of casino game, it affords them time to develop major innovations and features suited to that category. As a result, NextGen Gaming has a few notable special trademarked features, unique to their slot gaming brand:
- Super Bet - Here, you can turn a normal slot game wager into a High Roller stake, by choosing to select the Super Bet feature. It will increase your stake and your return to player percentage.
- DynaReel - A feature which introduces reel dividers to activate extra wins and bonus triggers.
- Slide Wild – Here NextGen’s software feature will give you control over the placements and behaviour of Wilds on the reel set.
- Up Wild – This is similar to the roaming Wild feature in other slot games, but instead travels up a single reel with each consecutive spin, instead of across the screen. It increases your chance of completing winning combinations.
Mobile mayhem
The skyrocketing concept of mobile casino gambling is a trend that no digital casino games provider can afford to overlook nowadays. In this world of instant gratification, speedy convenience is of utmost importance. Players want to be able to play their favourite games on a whim. For this reason, NextGen Gaming allows for instant format gaming directly from your Android or iOS mobile phone or tablet/iPad.
Gambling “on the go” need not compromise on the quality of gameplay like it might have a decade ago. The introduction of HTML5 technology allows for seamless integration across all platforms. Because the file size is smaller, less powerful devices like mobile phones can compute the data with minimal effort, offering the crispest of graphics, with great sounds and smo0thest gameplay.
NextGen Gaming bonus types
Here, we have explained the different casino bonuses available to claim when you play NextGen games.
Match bonus
When depositing a qualifying amount as determined by your choice NextGen Gaming Casino, a certain percentage or value will match your deposit. The most popular match bonus is generally 100% which awards you double the amount to play with. If you deposit $1,000, you will get to play with $2,000.
Free spins
Free spins bonuses are one of the most common and popular bonus offers available at online casinos due to the popularity of online slots. Free spins can either be given as a reward while allowing you to try a newly released slot or as a reward for making a deposit.
These free spins are often set at a maximum value, and all wins can be withdrawn after wagering requirements have been met.
Match bonus package
Much like the Match Bonus, you will receive a percentage match on your deposit. Only with this, you will receive a number of varying percentage match bonuses on a number of deposits. These are popular as welcome bonus packages and award you a bonus on up to five deposits.
No deposit spins
When signing up at NextGen casinos, you will be awarded a set number of free spins without a deposit being required. These spins can be played on a predetermined slot or slots and are linked to set wagering requirements.
CasinoWow round-up
NextGen Gaming carries our approval as a top-tier games provider. Should you want to play their slot games, then pick your favourite from our selection on the page and then select a pre-approved and reputable operator on our NextGen Gaming casinos list, for trustworthy service and safe and secure gambling. You may want to take a look at their new bonus listings in our NextGen Gaming casino bonuses list!