Inside AvatarUX’s Next Chapter. How New CPO Deane Hendricks Plans to Evolve a Studio Built on Signature Mechanics
- Kevin Jones
- Nov 12
- 4 min read
Gaming Eminence interview with AvatarUX CPO Deane Hendricks, exploring how the studio will evolve its signature PopWins identity, navigate global expansion, and balance creativity with governance in its next phase of growth.
AvatarUX enters a pivotal moment in its creative lifecycle. The studio has carved out rare territory in the crowded slot-development landscape. It owns a mechanic players immediately recognise. It has a visual identity that streamers surface without prompting. It has a catalogue where rhythm, volatility, and pacing form a fingerprint rather than a formula. Moving that kind of studio forward is rarely about invention. It is about judgment.
The arrival of Deane Hendricks as Chief Product Officer signals a deliberate push into that next phase. Hendricks carries a track record of shaping teams through growth spurts, regulatory expansion, and the uneasy dance between creativity and governance. His appointment lands at a time when studios face a more complex product reality. Certification pipelines have tightened, content cycles have quickened, and the market’s appetite for novelty competes with an equally strong demand for predictability. A studio built around a distinctive mechanic sits right at that tension point.
The conversation that follows goes beyond the surface of feature design. Hendricks lays out how he reads a studio’s culture when he arrives, how he protects core identity without freezing it, and where he looks for evidence that players are ready for evolution rather than repetition. His answers map out the mindset behind AvatarUX’s future bets: curiosity anchored in data, experimentation protected by discipline, and a culture where boldness comes from precision rather than noise.
For an industry crowded with studios searching for a signature, AvatarUX already has one. The question now is how to grow it without stretching it thin. Hendricks’ early view offers a rare look at how a product leader approaches that challenge from day one.
Gaming Eminence: You’ve joined a studio already defined by its mechanics and identity. As a new CPO, where do you start by protecting what works or by questioning the boundaries others might see as untouchable?
Deane Hendricks: "I begin with a close read of what already works. That means understanding the player data, the creative decisions that built our identity, and the specific qualities that make AvatarUX games feel like AvatarUX. Protecting those foundations is essential.
In parallel, I pressure-test the assumptions around them. The aim is not disruption for its own sake. It is to spot where we can evolve without losing the core feel that players recognise. That process is collaborative. I listen first, then explore where a boundary is a belief rather than a rule. It is evolution over reinvention, with the courage to adjust when the evidence supports it."
Gaming Eminence: Operators know AvatarUX for its recognisable PopWins™ DNA. How do you think about evolving that signature without diluting it and what early signal would tell you players are ready for a shift?
DH: "PopWins™ is part of our identity, so the question is how to widen its expression without blurring it. We keep the core rhythm and emotional curve, and experiment around pacing, progression, and theme. That lets us attract new audiences while staying familiar to existing fans.
Readiness shows up in a few places: retention across cohorts, how new releases perform next to legacy PopWins™ titles, and streamer behaviour when a variation lands. If exploration begins to outperform the comfort of older loops, that is a clear signal players are open to a step forward rather than another small refinement."
Gaming Eminence: You’ve led teams at several major studios before. In your first 100 days here, what are you reading in AvatarUX’s design culture that tells you how bold you can be and where restraint matters most?
DH: "The design group is capable and curious, which gives us room to be bold. The immediate focus is on channelling that energy into a small number of high-conviction bets. Boldness does not mean more features, it means sharper choices.
Restraint matters in two areas: resource allocation and coherence. We prioritise to avoid spreading the team thin, and we keep a clear studio voice across maths, UX, and theme. That way, ambition shows up as quality, not volume."
Gaming Eminence: Expansion brings complexity. new markets. certification layers. and cultural nuances. How do you plan to keep creative rhythm alive when governance, localisation, and compliance start competing for space?
DH: "We integrate governance early so creativity is not interrupted late. That means clear rules up front, a predictable content pipeline, and using automation where it removes repeat friction. Localisation is treated as design, not just translation. When a miss happens, we treat it as an input to improve the system rather than a one-off failure. The objective is steady rhythm, not heroic recovery."
Gaming Eminence: If you had to define the next stage of innovation for AvatarUX in one principle, not a feature or mechanic, but a mindset, what would it be?
DH: “Fail fast” and “collaborate constantly” still apply, with an emphasis on measurable learning. We test early, we document what we learn, and we let the results change our decisions. Curiosity plus accountability.
Gaming Eminence: Starting fresh inside a new culture often resets habits. What small daily ritual or way of thinking are you bringing with you into AvatarUX that helps you make sense of fast-moving decisions?
DH: "Each morning starts with a data check to ground discussion in signal. I watch streamer content to pick up qualitative cues. I push for internal collaboration because alignment reduces rework, and I keep asking questions. The routine is simple. Use data to focus, use conversations to sharpen judgement, then decide and move."
