ELA Games Managing Director Marharyta Yerina participated in the “Progress Paths: Making Milestones Matter” panel on February 11, 2026, in Dubai, where she shared her thoughts on the progression of retention strategies. Moderated by the Commercial Manager of Greco Fast Track, Tim French, the discussion focused on the psychology behind effective game design. Marharyta offered
ELA Games Managing Director Marharyta Yerina participated in the “Progress Paths: Making Milestones Matter” panel on February 11, 2026, in Dubai, where she shared her thoughts on the progression of retention strategies.
Moderated by the Commercial Manager of Greco Fast Track, Tim French, the discussion focused on the psychology behind effective game design. Marharyta offered insights that player engagement is often about invisible design choices rather than obvious progress features, noting that optimized volatility and feature frequency create a natural sense of anticipation.
Participants also discussed the issue of relying on complex and long-term VIP systems, as Marharyta suggested that micro-goals and intra-session milestones that keep interest during gameplay are just as important to make the experience feel rewarding in the moment.
The panel gave the opportunity to iGaming sector representatives to share their diverse opinions, with Alena Tsuranova, the CCO of Megafair, and Bulat Fakhrutdinov, the Head of Partnerships at Betronic Software, joining Marharyta on stage.
For ELA Games, appearing at such major international events is an important step to establish the studio’s unique voice in the industry and show its creative vision paired with the “For Players, By Players” slogan. ELA Games focuses on presenting games that players want to return to and partnerships that hold long-term value.