Inside Asian Gaming

IAG MAY 2020年5月 亞博匯 61 特寫 so we allow players to cycle through the RNG without actually wagering and hit it two or three times, 10 times, whatever they want, and see what that cycle looks like. Then they can decide based on their superstitions when the right time is to bet. I think allowing the player to generate that histogram is the thing that has made this game quite popular in Macau. The other thingwe’re doing in Asia: as you know linked progressives are ubiquitous - especially in the Philippines - and a lot of these linked progressive games are quite popular. We’ve got a link that is just being released now called Volcano Link with a couple of titles underneath. Then in our product development line-up we have a series of linked games that we will release one by one in the coming months, so as an operator you can be confident that you will always have content without having huge changes to your floor. You could either just upgrade those, or if you like one link you can just add the second link. So in addition to standalone game development we are doing this series of linked progressives with that bonus link. We also have a couple of standalone games in the pipeline that we plan to roll out every quarter. BB: Is that still the plan given the COVID-19 pandemic?Will you have to alter those timelines? SW: Yeah, I was in Japan just before they closed down the world, and I talked with our CFO and President who are both very concerned about the state of the world and the state of business in general. Sega Sammy will not be immune to what this will do from a business perspective, but both were very confident in our financial status and our ability to weather this storm. Both said, “Look, this is the time for us to keep going.” We are continuing to pursue license applications so when things do open up again we can approach more markets. Our R&D game development is not changing at all. We may choose to roll things out at a slightly slower pace because, of course, right now I can’t even ship a machine let alone try to sell one. The fact that we did have a pipeline of games coming out means now we may have a slight surplus at the end of the year. But at least it gives us some flexibility on how we roll that out. BB：世嘉颯美創意在亞洲面對的最大挑戰是甚麼呢？ SW： 我們曾經在亞洲進行過多玩家遊戲機組的首發，但沒有做得 很對， 因此我們就以單人版再次登場。我們的Maximum Fortune Baccarat已經有超過100部機組安裝在澳門。它們之前都是在試驗 階段，但現在都已經變成真正的產品。他們的表現還算不錯，我們 已經在去年尾把他們投放到菲律賓，現在亦開始於拉斯維加斯進 行安裝，因為那裏有些賭場會有一個「亞洲角」，當中包括百家樂和 骰寶，所以這款遊戲就解決了這方面的需求。 我們引進的其中一樣東西，就是讓玩家創造他們自己記錄卡 的這一選項。因為那些在亞洲的玩家可能比較迷信，所以我們讓玩 家在沒有真正投注的情況下，在隨機數生成器中不斷選擇，或者可 以按兩次、三次、十次，甚至是任何他們想按的次數，看看到底他們 的循環到底是甚麼樣子的。 然後他們就可以根據他們的信念，在正確的時間下注。我認為 讓玩家創作自己的記錄圖表，就是讓這遊戲在澳門頗受歡迎的原 因。 我們也有在亞洲做另一件事。你也知道連線累積其實頗為盛 行，特別是在菲律賓，很多這些連線累積遊戲都頗受歡迎。我們有 一個連線遊戲剛剛推出，叫做 Volcano Link，當中包括多款遊戲。 另外，在我們的產品開發計劃裏，就有一系列連線遊戲將會在 未來數個月逐步推出。因此，作為一個營運商，你可以有信心你將 能在博彩區域不出現大變化的情況下，依然能夠經常有新的 遊戲內容。你可以只更新那些遊戲，或者如果你喜歡一種連線 的話，你可以加入第二種連線。因此，除了單機遊戲開發外，我 們亦在進行這系列的連線累積開發，當中包括獎勵連線。 我們已經有幾個單機遊戲正計劃於每季度逐步推出。 BB：但現在出了新冠病毒大流行，這計劃依然會實行嗎？你會 否需要改變相關時間表？ SW： 是的，我在日本的封鎖措施實行前就在那裏，並且與我們 的財務總監及總裁交談過。他們都非常擔憂現時世界的狀況 和生意。 從商業角度而言，世嘉颯美不會倖免於這場疫症的影響， 但他們兩位都對於我們的財務狀況及我們抵禦這場風浪的能 力十分有信心。他們兩位都說：「這是繼續前行的時刻。」 我們繼續進行牌照申請，以待所有事情重新開放以後我 們可以接觸更多市場。我們的遊戲研發並無任何改變。我們可 能稍為減慢推出產品的速度，因為畢竟我們現在連寄出一件 機器也無法做到，更不要說銷售了。 事實上，我們已經有一系列遊戲準備進出，現在我們可能 在年尾時有一點多出來的遊戲，但至少我們在遊戲推出時可 以有更多靈活處理的空間 。