🎤 4ThePlayer Slots Q&A with Henry McLean

September 2026 Q&A

In this interview, I speak to Henry about the studio’s philosophy, mechanics and innovation, themes, series and crossovers, maths, max win potential and value as well as the future.

Q: 4ThePlayer was founded in 2018 by a team of seasoned developers who are also huge slots fans. How much does the name itself, ‘for the player’, genuinely shape the way you design games?

HM: “Completely. The name really was the starting point for the business. Most of the management team and all the founders are slot players ourselves, so we naturally notice the same frustrations players do and ask, can we make this better?

4 Fantastic Fish is a great example. We found it frustrating seeing cash prizes that could only be won through a specific collect mechanic, so we created Money Ways, where they can form normal ways wins.

That player-first thinking is absolutely in our DNA.”

Q: You’ve said the goal is building games with optimal mathematical profiles that keep players excited. In practice, how do you balance strong maths against entertainment and theme?

HM: “The maths drives the experience, but the player should never feel like they are looking at a spreadsheet!

The maths, theme, features, sounds and animations all need to work together. We spend a lot of time testing and fine-tuning that balance.

We also try not to over-engineer things. A game can have depth, but players should still understand what is happening by watching the reels.”

Q: As a UK-headquartered, UKGC-licensed independent studio, what freedoms do you have that larger providers might not, and where do you feel the constraints?

HM: “Being independent gives us agility. We can make decisions quickly, take more creative risks and obsess over small details without layers of decision-making or meetings.

That freedom is a big part of what makes 4ThePlayer work. We are a boutique studio, so we can stay focused, move quickly and spend our time making the games better rather than navigating lots of internal processes.”

Q: The playful numbering convention: 9k Yeti, 3 Secret Cities, 60 Second Heist, even the ‘4’ in your own name. It looks partly aimed at ranking well in game lists. How deliberate is that, and has it worked?

HM: “It was deliberate, but as branding rather than a trick to rank higher.

When we launched, we were a new studio in a crowded market and wanted our games to look different. Names like 9k Yeti were short, memorable and stood out. It might have other benefits too ;) but the main reason was branding and grouping.

Over time, that numbering style simply became part of the 4ThePlayer personality.

We have recently mixed it up though and added some 4TP names into the mix, again to help us stand out and help with content discovery.”

Q: Many of your titles build on Yggdrasil mechanics like Gigablox, seen in 90k Yeti Gigablox and 7 Gold Gigablox. How does that partnership work, and what does it let you do that you couldn’t alone?

HM: “We have had a close relationship with Yggdrasil for years, and both companies enjoy experimenting.

Gigablox gave us a strong mechanic, but our challenge was always: what can 4ThePlayer do with it?

That is what good collaboration should be. Both sides bring something valuable and ideally create something neither would have made alone.

It also gave us the opportunity to reach players who already enjoyed Gigablox but perhaps had not tried a 4ThePlayer game before.”

Q: You’ve created a string of proprietary mechanics too: BONUS↑UP, DoubleMax, BOOMPOTS, Boosting Fortunes, Stack Xpand. What’s your process for inventing and naming a brand-new feature?

HM: “There are always lots of ideas flying around at 4ThePlayer!

Normally we start with the player experience rather than the name. We prototype it, play it, debate it, change it and eventually decide whether it deserves to escape the 4ThePlayer Lab. Some unfortunate ideas never see the light of day!

The name comes much later. Every game starts life with a project name, then somewhere much further down the process we finally decide what to actually call it, which our platform partners absolutely love, haha!

Ideally, the final name should quickly explain what the feature does and have a bit of personality. If it needs a paragraph or spelling out to explain, it probably is not a very good name.”

Q: The 7x7 Zeus and 7x7 Thor games use an expanding grid that can grow up to 49 symbols with cascading multipliers. What was the design challenge in building a grid that changes size mid-play?

HM: “The challenge was making it dramatic without making it confusing.

Thunder Scatters expand the reels, winning symbols disappear, new ones drop in, and Multipliers can increase. Each individual idea is simple, with the depth coming from how those mechanics interact.

The real challenge was balancing the maths around that expanding feature. As you can imagine, it can become pretty volatile very quickly, but we wanted players to see the feature develop without turning the whole game into an extreme volatility experience.”

Q: Big Reel Portrait Mode and a mobile-first approach are core to your identity. How early in development does the mobile experience shape a game’s design, rather than being adapted afterwards?

HM: “From the beginning.

In some markets, more than 90% of play is on mobile, so designing desktop first and squeezing it onto a phone afterwards makes no sense.

That is why we created Big Reel Portrait Mode. It means extra work, but the game should feel properly designed for the device rather than compromised by it.

Now Apple has announced the iPhone Duo, I cannot wait to get my hands on one and see what slots look like on it. Mobile design is changing again, which keeps things interesting!”

Q: The Yeti games trace right back to your 2019 debut, 9k Yeti, through to 90K Yeti and 9k Yeti Gold Dream Drop. How important is that flagship character to the studio’s identity?

HM: “Very important, and I definitely have a soft spot for him!

9k Yeti was our first slot and is still one of our most recognisable games. What I love about it is how simple and easy to understand it is. It did exactly what we wanted for a first game and is often still in our top 10 games across all markets.

Every time we bring the Yeti back, it feels a little bit like seeing an old mate again.”

Q: The 4 Fantastic Fish line has grown into a whole sub-series: Egypt, Gigablox, Gold, Amazon Adventure. How do you keep revisiting one concept feeling fresh rather than repetitive?

HM: “We only make another one if we genuinely have enough ideas to justify it.

A good slot sequel should keep the things players recognise but introduce something new, whether that is the location, maths, mechanics or features.

If we ever run out of genuinely good ideas for Fantastic Fish, we stop. Making sequels purely because the last one performed well is how franchises become tired and reskins are born.”

Q: 4 Fantastic Vikings Go Fishing crossed your own 4 Fantastic Fish with Yggdrasil’s Vikings Go Berzerk. How did that crossover come about, and are more collaborations like it on the cards?

HM: “Yggdrasil approached us about doing something together, and combining Vikings Go Berzerk with 4 Fantastic Fish quickly felt like a natural fit.

The important part was making one coherent game rather than 2 games welded together.

I am always open to more collaborations, but only when combining the 2 genuinely creates something more fun and entertaining. It has to be an idea that works as a game, not something that was simply born in a contract and never really made sense in reality, as players would not play it.”

Q: Your themes range widely: Aztec, Greek and Norse mythology, Wild West, sci-fi, heist, even luxury pigs. How do you decide which themes suit the kind of high-volatility maths you favour?

HM: “We normally start with the experience rather than saying, ‘we need an Egyptian game’ or ‘we need a Viking game’.

We look at the mechanic, maths and pacing first, then ask what theme naturally supports those moments.

Quite often a game will actually go through a few different themes while we are developing it. It is only once the mechanic is properly finessed that we can really decide which theme fits it best.”

Q: Your max wins are enormous: 90,000x on 90K Yeti, 70,000x on 7 Gold Gigablox, 60,000x on 60 Second Heist. What’s the appeal of those huge ceilings, and how do you keep them meaningful?

HM: “Players have different preferences, and some enjoy high-volatility maths while others prefer something softer.

For us, the maximum cannot simply be a big number used for marketing. The whole maths profile still needs to work, including hit frequency, base-game activity and feature frequency.

The maximum is only one small part of the overall game. What matters is that the game is entertaining throughout, not just built around the possibility of one very large outcome.”

Q: You offer everything from a low volatility 1k Yeti to ‘extreme’ titles. How do you think about serving different player preferences within one catalogue?

HM: “Not every slot is for every player.

Different players enjoy different volatility, themes and maths profiles, so we want the catalogue to offer genuine choice.

The important part is being clear about what each game is. That is why our transparency around volatility, RTP and maths has always mattered to us.”

Q: A noted criticism is that newer releases have dropped to a 94% RTP, down from the 97% of early games like 9k Yeti and 1 Left Alive. What’s driven that shift?

HM: “A lot of it reflects how the market has evolved.

Operators and regulated markets increasingly require multiple RTP configurations, so we offer a range of versions, including 96%. Ultimately, the casino chooses which version it offers.

Our job is to ensure the maths remains properly balanced at every supported RTP so the experience is as similar as possible.”

Q: With 6 Dream Drop jackpot slots to date, how do you decide which games get a Dream Drop version?

HM: “It has to fit the game naturally.

We would never add Dream Drop simply because jackpots are popular. The mechanic and maths both need to support it without compromising what made the original game work.

If it feels bolted on, we leave it alone.”

Q: You’ve kept up a steady output of around 7 to 8 games a year since 2022. How do you sustain that pace while keeping each release genuinely distinct?

HM: “By being very protective of what we release.

4ThePlayer is still a boutique studio, not a content factory. While a lot of studios are ramping up production, we are staying true to what we said when we formed the business: less is more, and every game should get the love and attention it deserves. It should never feel like just ‘this week’s game’.

I genuinely think players can see that, and we get a lot of positive feedback from operators about our graphics, production values and overall feel. We simply could not maintain that level of care if we were trying to operate like a factory.”

Q: With over 60 games now and several established sub-series, how do you judge when to extend an existing line versus launch something completely new?

HM: “Data and ideas.

First, the original game needs to have earned the right to continue. Then we ask the more important question: do we genuinely have something new to add?

A successful original is not enough on its own. If there is no good new idea, I would rather make something completely different.

We also try to keep the roadmap balanced between proven player favourites through sequels and completely new ideas. You need both, otherwise the portfolio can become too safe or too unfamiliar.”

Q: Are there mechanics, themes or formats you haven’t tackled yet that you’re especially keen to bring to a 4ThePlayer game?

HM: “Definitely. We have far more ideas than we could ever realistically make, which is a nice problem to have!

There are still plenty of mechanics and formats we have not explored properly yet. North America is also giving us a lot of inspiration, and 5 Flaming Dollars has taught us more about the styles, presentation and maths that resonate there.

For me, the exciting part is taking those learnings and creating something genuinely new with them, while still making sure it feels unmistakably 4ThePlayer.”

Q: Looking back across the catalogue, which game or single innovation are you proudest of, and what would you most like the studio to be known for?

HM: “That is like asking me to choose a favourite child, but 9k Yeti will always be special because it was our first.

Money Ways is also something I am very proud of because it represents why we created 4ThePlayer: spotting something that frustrated us as players and finding a simple way to improve it.

Ultimately, I want us to be known for entertaining, distinctive games with strong maths, original ideas and that player-first thinking running through everything we do.”

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