In this episode of the industry’s shiniest five-year-old podcast, Robert Lenzhofer discusses the innovative Hizi platform, a self-service operating system for iGaming studios that simplifies game development, deployment, and management, aiming to revolutionize the industry with cloud-based solutions. Hosts Fintan Costello and Jon Bruford welcome Robert – a returning guest! – as they discuss the usual mish-mash of topics alongside Robert’s innovation.
As ever, we thank our superb sponsors – you can find out more about Optimove, World Gaming, and GLI further down this page…
Choice quotes:
- “This is more like an operating system for studios”
- “Allows you to create any RNG game directly in the back office”
- “It’s like AWS for the gambling industry”
- “The RGS all grown up. The operating system for studios.”
- “If you still have to code into the backend, then it’s not self-service.”
- “We just give you the best tool that possibly can be built.”
Chapters (but add 30 seconds or so because of our beautiful music, which is copyright Mara Carlyle…)
- 00:00 – Opening banter and the challenge of recording multiple episodes
- 01:02 – Moving house, lampshades, and the magnetic knife rack
- 03:18 – Holiday talk, hustle culture, and the death of downtime
- 04:04 – The world’s best theme park in Devon: Diggerland, and possibly the best jingle for a theme park ever.
- 10:29 – Robert’s summer chaos and building a point-and-click adventure with his daughter
- 12:20 – Introducing Robert Lenzhofer and the move beyond Holle Games
- 13:01 – What Hizi means and why it is about more than an RGS
- 14:43 – What the platform is for in practical studio terms
- 15:48 – Why RGS infrastructure should be treated like a commodity
- 16:29 – Self-service signup and instant dedicated instances
- 18:14 – Pricing tiers and what’s included in the basic package
- 19:20 – The no-code, AI-assisted Hizi engine
- 21:02 – Early traction, partner growth, and game deployments
- 23:36 – What studios actually do inside the platform
- 24:34 – Why billing and back-office tooling matter for small teams
- 26:15 – Migration paths for existing studios and hybrid deployments
- 27:40 – How Hizi compares with Stake’s model and game-upload systems
- 29:00 – The “end of RGS” idea and B2C engine support
- 31:12 – Could a simple card game or pub machine be built on Hizi?
- 33:15 – How the platform reduces startup friction and contract pain
- 35:07 – What onboarding looks like and the learning curve
- 36:06 – Why Hizi’s challenge is broader than a single-operator system
- 37:43 – Scaling with a lean team and moving from beta to wider onboarding
- 41:39 – Distribution as the bottleneck for smaller studios
- 44:05 – Starting a game studio and the “Doctor Hour” joke
- 45:16 – Bamboo Guerillas arrives
- 47:56 – Closing thanks and an invitation to revisit the project in 12 months
Robert on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertlenzhofer/
Resources & Links:
As ever, we thank all of our sponsors for their vibrant and excellent support that makes all of this… magic… possible.
Optimove, who turn customer data into something special, with tools that make businesses just plain work better. Optimove, your support helps us to keep creating content for an industry that probably thinks we disappeared years ago.
Then of course there is Clarion Gaming, no hang on World Gaming, providers of the magnificent ICE expo and iGB Live! in London. There is simply nobody better at what they do.
And the new-ish-est members of the family, the excellent Gaming Laboratories International.
GLI is a world-class Testing, Inspections and Certification company committed to delivering the highest quality land-based, lottery, and iGaming testing and assessment services, working in more than 710 jurisdictions.
For more information, visit gaminglabs.com.
The Gambling Files podcast delves into the business side of the betting world. Each week, join Jon Bruford and Fintan Costello as they discuss current hot topics with world-leading gambling experts.
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