TaDa Gaming CEO Andy Huang on Celebrity Co-Branding and Why Brand Will Beat AI Copycats | Exclusive Interview with iGaming News Today
Andy Huang has spent more than two decades in gaming and is now CEO of TaDa Gaming, a studio whose content runs in nearly 4,000 online casinos and which holds licences from the UKGC, MGA and AGCO.
In an exclusive interview with iGaming News Today, he set out what he thinks now makes a game succeed, and it has less to do with RTP than it used to.
Entertainment and shareability have overtaken RTP
Huang told iGaming News Today that the recipe still includes quality visuals and animation, balanced maths and gameplay, immersive themes, progressive rounds and expert localisation. But the weighting has shifted.
“Previously, high RTP and bonuses were key,” he said, “but recently the mood is more towards entertainment value and community.”
What follows from that is a marketing point rather than a product one. Games with “high impact shareable moments” that can generate social media UGC retain players better, he said, alongside progression rounds, quick feedback and easy onboarding.
Celebrity co-branding and the streamer effect
Huang was direct about where uptake now comes from: “Viral marketing, especially with influencers and streamers, is impacting a game’s successful uptake.”
TaDa’s answer has been a celebrity co-branding strategy, which he said is already seeing results with Fortune Yuri 500, with further iterations in production in Lucky Cerol 500 and Gems of Buxexa.
Why he expects brand to matter more as AI floods the market
On AI, Huang pointed to speed-to-market gains that are already real, but the downside he named is “a glut of low-quality, mass-produced copycat games flooding the market”.
His conclusion is the one worth noting: as that happens, “brand identity, brand awareness, and trust will become even more important for differentiation”. He expects streamers and influencers to carry more weight in driving engagement and retention, and describes TaDa as positioning itself as “a growth partner, rather than just a supplier”, while still a challenger brand.
What else Huang covers in the exclusive interview
- How TaDa’s Glocalisation strategy splits global core mechanics from local content
- Where he expects AI to help beyond speed to market, from hyper-personalisation to KYC and recommendation engines
- Why he believes economic pressure rather than politics will drive the industry’s next shift
- Which emerging regulated regions he expects to become the biggest growth drivers
- Why he chose a product-led strategy over M&A for sustained growth
- The line from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War that has guided his leadership
The full exclusive interview with Andy Huang is published on iGaming News Today.
