Inside Asian Gaming

June 2013 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 29 FEATURES W hat International Game Technology had in Asia at this time a year ago mostly was a strategy—“market-attuned,” it went—a fairly obvious reference to IGT’s belated recognition that emulating its North American success in this part of the world was going to take a lot more than successful North American games. Fast-forward to last month’s G2E Asia 2013 and the slogan had become reality in an exhibition swarming with visitors, splashed with Chinese reds and golds and pulsing with the sights and sounds of the Far East, the big draw being the Macau debut of two specially themed MegaJackpots Game Changer linked progressives. “The first year we were still getting our feet wet, still trying to sort out how to approach the market,” says Mark Michalko, the 36- year industry veteran whose mission as sales director of IGT Asia commenced in the winter of 2012 with a determination to turn around the slot giant’s local fortunes. And it’s an apt metaphor, as he tells it. “Truthfully, it’s a function of being an enormous company such as IGT is. We’re a little slower to move. We’re a big ship at sea. We turn a bit slowly. But once we get in the right direction we’re full steam ahead.” A lot of on-the-ground research in Macau has gone into setting that course, and it has shown with the success of titles such as Four Great Chinese Beauties, Big Dragon Lounge and West Journey Treasure Hunt—high-volatility, feature-rich standouts on IGT’s robust AVP platform that were developed in collaboration with the renowned High 5 Games to deliver the mechanics, mathematics and requisite cultural nuances to enable IGT to nibble at the floor shares of more entrenched competitors. These represent one side of “market-attuned,” that of games designed “from whole cloth,” as Mr Michalko puts it, “starting with a blank sheet of paper and trying to design the theme, the graphics, the math models, et cetera, specifically for this market.” The other side finds the company continuing to experiment with “international” releases, either by reconfiguring them with Asian graphics and maths or seeing how they fly on their own. Golden Goddess has been one of the big successes in this second category, a North American perennial that made the Pacific crossing with ease a couple of years back and continues to perform well on the strength of its visually compelling Multi- Layer Display interface and extras like Selective Stacking, which locks a major symbol on each spin for larger base-game payouts, and Super Stacks for bigger wins in the bonus, and an “all-on-one” game program that enables configurable line options. Big hopes rest this year with the ability of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a licensed title based on a popular police drama on US television, to resonate in the same way. “It’s not that everything from the US is going to do terrible here,” Mr Michalko says. “Some things you’ve seen do well. But then we tweak a few other ones to make them fit this market. So it’s kind of a two-pronged approach.” Between now and next May when G2E Asia rolls around again, the two prongs will have become three, the way IGT is mapping this. As the company’s Beijing game studio ramps up, the region will be seeing a steady release of new standalones. Right in Tune It’s a different game for IGT in Asia, playing catch-up, and the company that is emerging from the experience, if not a leaner one, is certainly as innovative, as determined to adapt and as eager for the chase as it’s ever been ‘Big breakthrough’—Great Zodiac Race is one of two Game Changer progressives that IGT is launching in Macau in the second half of 2013.