What Onlyplay Learned at SBC Summit 2026

A New Brand Identity Takes Center Stage

Onlyplay arrived at SBC Summit Lisbon 2026 with a packed agenda: presenting its refreshed brand identity in person for the first time, meeting existing and potential partners, reviewin ongoing projects and discussing upcoming releases.

With meetings scheduled almost back to back, the Partnerships team had little time to explore the exhibition. For Iuliia Pelekhata, Partnership Manager, the experience was primarily about connecting with partners.

“To be honest, I'm not even sure I managed to experience the full scale of the event because almost all my time was dedicated to meetings and conversations with partners,” she said.

Beyond the busy schedule, the event offered an important opportunity to introduce the new ONLYPLAY identity in a physical setting. The stand brought together digital displays, characters, merchandise, product visuals and dedicated meeting areas, creating an environment that reflected the brand’s refreshed image.

According to Anna Serheieva, Head of Partnerships, one of the most encouraging aspects was the spontaneous reaction from visitors.

“What I loved most was that we didn't even have to point out our rebranding. Partners noticed it themselves.”

Visitors commented on the colours, the stand’s design and its welcoming atmosphere. For Onlyplay, these unsolicited reactions provided meaningful feedback from industry professionals already familiar with the company’s previous identity.

Hyper Play Makes Its Industry Debut

SBC Summit Lisbon also marked the introduction of Hyper Play by Onlyplay, a new strategic product direction combining the company’s iGaming expertise with concepts from mobile and PC game development.

The initiative focuses on exploring new game formats, replayability, multiplayer interaction and deeper session design. During the event, partners had the opportunity to experience the first Hyper Play demo and discuss the project’s vision directly with the team.

The product direction is led by Eugene Lavrinenko, a game developer and serial entrepreneur with more than 12 years of experience in mobile and PC gaming. Throughout his career, he has worked with teams on more than 400 prototypes and several international hits. He now leads Hyper Play’s product strategy and development.

The launch added a product-focused dimension to Onlyplay’s presence in Lisbon, allowing the company to present not only its renewed brand identity but also its vision for future game development.

Service Quality Becomes a Competitive Advantage

While the new brand and Hyper Play attracted attention, many of the most valuable conversations focused on day-to-day business operations.

Meetings covered ongoing integrations, previous campaigns, upcoming releases, marketing initiatives and technical challenges. These discussions also highlighted the importance of service quality in maintaining long-term partnerships.

Iuliia Pelekhata explained: “What's especially rewarding is that partners know us not only for our games, but also for the quality of our service and the way we approach cooperation.”

Some existing partners even expressed their willingness to recommend Onlyplay to other operators based on their experience working with the company.

Such recommendations reflect more than a successful launch. They are built through consistent communication, responsive support, effective problem-solving and the ability to address partners’ needs throughout the cooperation.

For Onlyplay, this feedback reinforced the value of the everyday work that takes place beyond the visibility of major industry events.

Post-Launch Support Gains Importance

Another recurring theme during the Lisbon meetings was the growing attention operators are paying to what happens after a game goes live.

Integration remains an essential step, but it is no longer the end of the conversation. Operators increasingly want to understand how content will be promoted, which marketing tools are available, what campaigns can be developed jointly and how providers will support a title after its launch.

Olha Marchenko, Partnership Manager, highlighted this shift:

“There's much more focus on what happens next – how you promote that content, engage players, and build long-term relationships with partners.”

As a result, discussions about future integrations increasingly include promotional strategies, player engagement, personalisation and joint marketing plans from the outset.

For game providers, this means taking a broader role in the product lifecycle and maintaining active cooperation with operators well beyond the initial go-live date.

Face-to-Face Meetings Strengthen Remote Partnerships

SBC Summit Lisbon also gave the ONLYPLAY team the chance to meet partners in person after months of working together remotely.

Many professional relationships had previously developed through Telegram, email, video calls and other digital communication channels. Meeting face to face offered an opportunity to review projects, clarify outstanding questions and discuss next steps in a more direct setting.

Olha Marchenko described the experience as a productive workation, combining internal planning sessions with the opportunity to meet people the team had known remotely for a long time.

Although these encounters often consist of brief conversations between scheduled meetings, they can make a meaningful difference to future cooperation. In-person contact helps establish context, makes communication more natural and can facilitate discussions that are harder to resolve through messages alone.

For an industry where partnership management relies heavily on digital communication, these meetings remain a valuable part of building professional relationships.

Turning Conference Conversations into Action

Following three days in Lisbon, ONLYPLAY returned with a full list of follow-up tasks, including proposals to prepare, marketing activities to discuss, upcoming releases to review and new contacts to develop.

The event’s value extended beyond the presentation of the refreshed brand. The team received direct feedback on its new identity, heard positive assessments of its service quality and gained further insight into operators’ evolving expectations regarding marketing and post-launch support.

SBC Summit Lisbon 2026 ultimately reinforced a broader industry trend: successful partnerships depend not only on the games themselves, but also on the quality of cooperation, ongoing engagement and the ability to support products throughout their lifecycle.

For Onlyplay, the next step was to turn those conversations into concrete actions, ensuring that the relationships and opportunities developed in Lisbon continue to progress long after the exhibition has ended.