Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | April 2010 24 Talking Heads through from Aruze. The company is a great story.” It’s one thing to get a trial on a casino floor; it’s another to get a good spot on the floor. Isn’t a good position important for success in a trial? “Your relationship with the director of slots or the person you’re dealing with in the property is important. Obviously, all manufacturers are bidding for the best spot on the floor. Typically, most times you don’t get that. It [a trial] usuallymeans the operator pulling product out of poor performing areas [to put your product in]. “You negotiate and try your hardest. Often you can get into another spot [other than your ideal spot]. If your product does work well [in the less prominent position], then it really shows you have a successful product.” Once you’re on the floor, what are the key indicators of a product’s success, besides daily win? “You’re obviously monitoring the appeal the game has for the player. For example, is it able to pull people to the area? Does it help other games in that area? We had a multi station sic bo [machine] recently put in a particular area in a casino here in Macau. It was recorded that the slot product around that area actually pickedup, because the sic bo is good e n o u g h to attract people to that part of the floor.” Do you get daily performance figures from the operators? “We would love to get the figures on a daily basis, but obviously they’re confidential to each of the casinos. In a market like Macau, the concessionaires are very competitive, so getting figures on how your product actually works on a whole floor among other competitors’ products is very difficult. You’ll get [figures for] your own machines, but only once or twice a month at best. “If you get through the first month and your product performance numbers are really good, and well above the average or even in the top 10%, you’re pretty sure to get through the following 60 days. The really good games in the marketplace are the games that are still performing well 12 to 18-months down the line.” It costs a lot to develop a game. Are you able to field test games before you get them on the floor in particular Asian markets? “When you’re taking games around the globe [to different markets], it’s not typically the same piece of software in the game in every market. The cost is really quite significant when you’re developing global games. “You’ve got the global product, then you’ve got the regional variation [in terms of regulation]—an X-series protocol for New South Wales in Australia and SAS for here [Macau] and other protocols and adaptations elsewhere. “Part of the whole spend in research and development is about analysing what you’ve got in the marketplace, what is working, what’s not, how features and bonuses are benefiting [the product’s popularity] and the types of games that suit different markets. That’s whether it be high denomination, low denomination, high volatility, or low volatility, etc. Sure enough, a lot of money’s spent on developing the games, but you also spend money on making sure you have people out in the field, and getting as much data back into the R&D and the mathematical people so that you can continue to develop the good games. Obviously, if there’s a great performing game and it’s got particular concepts in the game, you look to develop those concepts into further games and continue to enhance your success.” How do you maximise the feedback from operators regarding performance? “Typically, you get to understand what your own product is doing. You might, from Lucky Sic Bo™ conversations, get some other information, but there’s obviously the point that you honour information as confidential because it’s in your commercial interests. These are your customers and you need to respect them, otherwise you’re going to lose that customer.” What products are you introducing to other Asian markets? “Some of our newer products will be going into the casinos in Singapore. Rock You Queen is going into Singapore. That’s also some of the top box product we’ve also got now at The Venetian [Macao] and at City of Dreams. It’s a fabulous concept with Freddie Mercury and the band Queen. When you get the free game features up and you select any of the free games, you get one of the Queen songs and the top box LCD goes to full concert. It really attracts the people and attention on the casino floor. We are looking to take our range of games to all markets.” What about Asia outside Macau and Singapore? “In Asia, we’re starting to focus on some of themarkets we haven’t been in. A year ago we operated under a distributor style model in Asia. Now we’re doing more of a direct sales model. We flipped the model early last year and now we’re concentrating and penetrating places we haven’t previously had direct sales. “In Australia, we’ve had distributors in the market in New South Wales. We’re changing that to a direct sales model as well. We’ve put on a number of sales people there and some new management and we’re starting to see success also in that market. Already from the recent trade show [in Sydney], we’ve seen an outstanding response to our products.” Was switching to direct sales your decision? “The company was already going down that track before I joined. Already, in the small time I’ve been with the company, we’re seeing the results of that. The decision regarding Asia, for instance, was made early last year. In Australia, it was only made in mid-2009. Initial results show it’s the right way to go for us.”