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Pixel Federation goes back to Slovakian roots to ramp up its successful CSR strategy

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4 years ago

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The largest game developer in Slovakia, Pixel Federation, has spent the last 14 years growing successfully, now boasting a staggering €47.8m annual revenue in 2020 and 120 million loyal players across international markets, however it has also consistently dedicated itself to contributing to Slovakia’s development. A strong focus on responsible business strategy has always been key to Pixel Federation’s operations and supporting its hometown of Bratislava was core to the CSR. Pixel rose admirably to the challenge of the pandemic, with focus splitting from its long-standing education and innovative development, towards fundraising resources for frontline workers, and now Pixel is adapting its CSR strategy once again, to focus on the environment.

Actively contributing to the green fight swept the games industry last Summer, with initiatives such as Playing for the Planet and Green Game Jams pointing the spotlight onto the impact gamers and respective developers can have on global issues. A sector heavily scrutinised for its environmental footprint and carbon waste, it was an important step for game developers to take towards counteracting their global footprint and joining together to conserve the environment. For Pixel Federation staff and expansive player communities, doing their bit for the planet continues to be a poignant issue and so the company has pledged to dedicate a large portion of its upcoming CSR to a number of environmental projects.

“Education, the environment, culture and sport are still only an appendix on the edge of many Slovakians’ understanding of life skills. It’s a long-term and unchanged situation in non-strength sectors as they don’t have a quick return on investment. We want to ensure that the Slovakia we leave behind is better than the one we were born into,” says Co-Founder, CSR Strategy lead and CLO, Lucia Šickova.

Breath of fresh air

Pixel Federation is a company rooted in strong community values, and the call from the players and staff was clear; the environment is key to our greater survival, and a worthwhile and meaningful investment. Rolling up its sleeves to get back to its founding roots, the company chose to collaborate with Bratislava city on the 10,000 trees project, the first 12 of which, planted through this green initiative, already stand proud on Šancova Street in Bratislava.

“I see this activity as a partnership with the city. Our motivation is not personal or corporate PR, our motivation is impact and something that will outlive all of us,” comments Co-Founder and former CEO, Šimon Šicko

Alongside dedicating time and funds to the 10,000 trees project, Pixel Federation will also work closely with BROZ (Bratislava Regional Conservation Association) which brings together professional conservationists dedicated to the protection and restoration of rare habitats in the Slovakian mountain range, Little Carpathians. These mountains are victim to extensive felling, often of healthy trees, leaving behind a sparse and barren environment. Funding from Pixel Federation will be used to mark healthy trees for forest rescue and rejuvenation of the local habitat.

With these projects already underway, Lucia is determined that Pixel Federation’s support for wider efforts won’t be fixed, to allow for spontaneous aid where needed. “Our CSR strategy has always been a combination of long-term, consistent support for the projects we believe in, as well as one-time support for efforts we see as an urgent need. In recent years, we have also supported the Kramáre Hospital, the well-known Red Nose initiative, and focused our efforts to fundraise for frontline workers when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit Slovakia,” affirms Lucia.

The results stand firm

At the birth of Pixel Federation’s charitable ventures, the main ambition was to raise awareness of gaming and provide opportunities for young people to encourage fostering creativity and innovative skills, a field that Slovakian education at the time did not consider worthwhile.

Pixel’s first education project was the Butterfly Effect: a unique and highly valued platform across the nation where successful Slovakian digital companies such as Sygic, Leaf, HubHub and Pixel Federation share their knowledge with young people, and the results are impressive. More than 130 programme graduates have successfully created 22 products and produced four new start-ups full of enthusiastic young talent. With long-term financial support from Pixel Federation, the dedicated people behind Edulienka were able to create a standardized education system that focuses on innovative and comprehensive development of 21st century skills in socially disadvantaged children. Distributed amongst a number of schools in Slovakia, Pixel’s time and funds supported this project to ensure the expansion of the first school from 15 to 100 pupils and enabled those from socially disadvantaged families to study.

Pixel Federation also initiated the pandemic driven platform Who will help Slovakia to aid Slovak medical facilities in the face of COVID-19. Together with a number of other parties, Pixel launched a nationwide fundraising project in a record time of just a few days, gaining wider support from several companies including tech giant Amazon, ČSOB Foundation and many others. In total, Who will help Slovakia, headed by Pixel Federation, successfully raised an incredible fund of more than €1.4 million.

There is little doubt that the results Pixel has derived from its dedication to supporting development within Slovakia speak for themselves. The education projects alone have enabled hundreds of students to develop otherwise unattainable life skills and helped transform Slovakia into a gaming industry to be reckoned with.

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Scientific Games and Polish National Lottery Continue 20-Year Scratchcard Tradition as Sales Grow

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1 week ago

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July 24, 2025

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Scientific Games will continue to bring exciting instant scratchcard games to Polish National Lottery players through a new agreement with Totalizator Sportowy. Celebrating the instant lottery’s 25th anniversary last year, Totalizator Sportowy is among the top five performing instant game lotteries in Europe (La Fleur’s 2025 World Lottery Almanac). The world’s largest lottery games company has provided scratchcards to Totalizator Sportowy for more than 20 years, with scratchcard game sales in Poland growing by 20% over the past three years (2022 to 2025).

“Our goal is to give our players entertaining scratchcard experiences while responsibly generating maximum proceeds for Polish sport and culture. We are delighted to continue working with Scientific Games to offer fun, modern scratch experiences,” said Katarzyna Woznica-Borkowska, Manager of Instant Products for Totalizator Sportowy.

Most recently, Scientific Games collaborated with Totalizator Sportowy to offer Polish players the PLN30 GIGA 7 game produced with the company’s advanced Dimension technology, which enhances the play experience with three-dimensional, reflection-at-different-angle refractions above and below the game graphics.

Currently, the company provides instant games to 110 government-regulated lotteries worldwide, including more than 50 European lotteries.

“Scientific Games is honored to continue our longtime relationship with Totalizator Sportowy that we have built across two decades,” said Paul Dures, Lottery Sales Director EMEA for Scientific Games. “We look forward to continuing our work to drive meaningful growth for the scratchcard games in Poland creating more innovative and attractive games for players.”

With products that generate more than 70% of global instant game retail sales, Scientific Games is the world’s largest instant games creator, producer and services provider, and the primary provider to nine of the Top 10 performing instant game lotteries in the world (La Fleur’s 2025 World Lottery Almanac).

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Number of companies and employees in German games industry falls for first time in years

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2 weeks ago

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July 23, 2025

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After years of growth, the number of companies and employees in the German games industry declined in 2025. This was announced today by game – The German Games Industry Association on the basis of data from gamesmap.de in cooperation with Goldmedia. According to the data, the number of companies in Germany that develop and/or publish games has dropped by 4 per cent within the past year, to 910. The boom in start-ups in the games sector, which was set in motion by the introduction of the German Federal Games Funding Programme in 2020, has now completely subsided. Last year’s figures already indicated a clear slowdown. This decline was due in particular to the consolidation of the global games market and the unreliable availability of games funding to date in Germany.

Three times since 2020, there have been months-long suspensions placed on funding applications. Despite the newly registered drop, the number of companies has risen by 46 per cent overall since the initial start of the games funding programme in 2020. Of the 910 present companies, 454 work exclusively in game development and 52 exclusively as publishers. The remaining 404 companies are active in both the development and publishing of games.

‘Last year was another very difficult one for the German games industry,’ says Felix Falk, Managing Director of game. ‘Germany’s international competitiveness was further decreased by the ongoing flip-flopping of the games funding policy, which ran right into the consolidation wave that swept the global games sector. Fortunately, the new federal government has already taken the necessary steps to level the playing field for companies in this country. The future funding budget is to be increased and thus adjusted to actual needs, and applications can be submitted from August onwards. These are crucial growth impulses that are urgently needed. The additional funds will not only give companies more planning security, but also time to implement additional tax breaks for games, as set out in the coalition agreement between the CDU, CSU and SPD. The improved conditions will finally give games companies a boost, which will hopefully soon be reflected in more start-ups and the creation of new jobs.’

The number of employees at games companies in Germany has also declined over the last year. Whereas game developers and publishers employed 12,408 workers in 2024, the current figure stands at just 12,134 – a drop of 2 per cent. As with the number of companies, the employee numbers had previously shown strong growth since the introduction of the games funding programme at the federal level: a rise of 23 per cent from 2020 to 2024. The recent decline indicates that the current conditions for the games industry, which offer limited scope for planning due to the repeated funding application stoppages and significant current funding restrictions, are having an impact on the job market. A year ago, there were still more companies with ongoing projects that were internationally competitive thanks to funding at levels comparable to those in other countries – financing that had stabilised Germany’s game sector, despite the global consolidation wave and a lack of funding certainty for the industry here. The game industry secures a total of over 30,000 jobs in Germany. In addition to jobs in development and publishing, these include, for example, skilled professionals in educational institutions, the media and the public and commercial sectors.

About the data
The data is drawn from a survey carried out by Goldmedia on the basis of entries on gamesmap.de. It was conducted on behalf of game – The German Games Industry Association for the period ending on 12 May 2025.

The post Number of companies and employees in German games industry falls for first time in years appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Pro Selection – next generation casino multigame from Promatic Group

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2 weeks ago

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July 22, 2025

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Promatic Group, a Polish manufacturer of slot machines and system solutions for the gaming industry, is launching a new collection of slots dedicated to casino customers – the Pro Selection multigame. The first devices have already been certified in Poland and stood in casinos in Warsaw and Krakow. 

 

One platform, up to 55 games

Pro Selection is software with a collection of as many as 55 different titles, covering the full functional and stylistic range of games from the Polish company’s portfolio. Players will find both classic “fruits” games – traditional and simple in form – and modern adventure games, based on an elaborate narrative and unique logics. Branded productions that stand out for their original creations and high graphic quality are also worthy of special attention.

“In Pro Selection, we wanted to include our best titles and those that have proven themselves in both the land-based and online slot segments. That’s why players will find classics such as Miss Joker, one of the most popular games at Poland’s only legal online casino, or 81 Show, a popular hat game. There are also online hits of recent months such as Pixel Fruits and Ale Cool Bober. On top of that, we have added titles that have so far only been available in land-based slot machines and have been great in them, namely Golden Train, Aladdin or Magic Ladybird Mega,” says Piotr Fedak, CEO of Promatic. – “As for branded productions, games with Mariusz Pudzianowski remain a hit, and not only in Poland”, he adds.

 

Variability and mathematics for every player

One of the important features of Multigame Pro Selection is the mathematical diversity of the games available in it. The collection offers games with varying levels of volatility – from low to very high (on a scale of 1 to 5 stars). As a result, the package meets the needs of both enthusiasts of long session play with frequent, smaller wins, and players looking for higher risk and high wins.

Also new to Pro Selection is a revamped user interface. An intuitive lobby, it provides quick access to all titles, convenient filtering and easy navigation – both from the touch screen and traditional buttons. This is part of software that meets the highest industry technical standards and has been certified by a Polish testing laboratory accredited by the Minister of Finance as authorized to test gaming machines.

“As a product dedicated to casinos, i.e. the most demanding B2B customers, Pro Selection is designed to be fully integrated with the SAS protocol, which is standard in this market, giving compatibility with various casino management systems and providing full operational and billing transparency. It’s a product that is ready for deployment in casino environments where reliability and control are key,” explains Piotr Fedak. – We strive to ensure that Pro Selection’s multigame always goes hand in hand with our proprietary Royal Sevens Jackpot progressive jackpot system, which in itself is a huge asset and player magnet, Fedak adds.

 

Ease of maintenance and energy efficiency

Pro Selection software is available exclusively on the latest casino-class slot machines from Promatic Group – that is, the Casino 27 and PRO VIP 27 and 32 cabinets These are top-quality terminals equipped with HD monitors, state-of-the-art sound systems and RGB lighting to enhance the gaming atmosphere.

“Thanks to their modular design and intuitive service menus, our multigames are virtually maintenance-free – that is, technical service friendly. Interestingly also, our energy efficiency studies have shown that compared to the competition, Promatic machines consume significantly less energy,” says Piotr Fedak. – At the moment Pro Selection is fully certified for the Polish market, and work is already underway to obtain licenses for the Czech Republic, Slovakia where our goal is to implement this 100% Polish product in those very markets, says Piotr Fedak.

 

About Promatic Group

Promatic Group is a Polish company with more than 28 years of experience in the gambling industry, specializing in the production of gaming machines and providing dedicated software for gaming rooms and casinos, both land-based and online. The company’s headquarters and factory are located in Warsaw and Jelenia Gora.

In Poland, Promatic’s devices can be found in Totalizator Sportowy’s legal gaming salons, casinos of the WinCasino chain and selected Casinos Poland locations. The company also operates in Latin American and African markets.

Promatic Group is certified to ISO 27001 for information security and ISO 9001 for slot machine manufacturing quality.

Since 2021, the company has also been developing its online gaming segment under the Promatic Games brand, offering online slots in regulated markets in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It also holds B2B licenses issued by regulators in Romania (ONJN) and Malta (MGA) and plans to enter more than a dozen new markets in the next few months.

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