888 restructures "underperforming" social gaming arm
CTO of operator's social division Raz Bar Haim leaves ahead of wider organisational revamp aimed at turning around the business
888’s social gaming CTO Raz Bar Haim has left the operator as part of a broader restructuring of its “underperforming” social gaming business, eGaming Review can reveal.
The operator has yet to name a replacement for Bar Haim, who left last month to become CTO at digital marketing firm Marimedia, but said it remained committed to improving the performance of it social arm.
Speaking to eGR this morning, 888 COO Itai Frieberger praised Bar Haim’s work during his two-year tenure while also adding that wider changes would now be made to revive its Israel-based social business.
“I value Raz a lot but his decision to leave was his own and if he had wanted to stay we would have found him something else at 888,” Frieberger said.
“A big change is needed, similar to what we did with bingo over a year ago but this is going to be a little bit more challenging because it’s not a core part of the business,” he added.
888 bolstered its social arm in 2010 following the US$18m acquisition of Israeli social gaming studio Mytopia from Real Dice and Frieberger highlighted this division as an immediate focus.
“There is a restructuring of the entire social team of Mytopia on all fronts such as marketing, operational and technological,” he said.
“We’re taking talent from inside the company in order to facilitate for those who have already left and changing the entire organisational structure of that team which should be completed by the end of the year,” he added.
In July 888 pulled its real-money Facebook product Magic888 Casino from the social network just two months after Gamesys closed its own RMG Facebook app Bingo & Slots Friendzy.
Magic888 Casino, the first real-money casino app on Facebook, was the operator’s second social RMG product following the release of the UK-facing Bingo Appy.
“In the past it was a lot easier but in recent years the cost per installs (CPIs) went up and the industry is highly competitive with hundreds of different brands out there,” Frieberger said,
“However, although it’s a difficult business, I’m still a firm believer [in social gaming],” he added.