ARISTOCRAT INTERVIEW
Aristocrat’s dynamic management team, L-R: Warren Jowett, Daniel Lindsay, Jamie Odell, and William Wilsnagh
results for us. We had a one-size-fits-all approach previously, which doesn’t work for many European markets.
WJ: You’ve got to be in the right market, the right segment. That’s something that’s going to be analysed as one of the four pillars of our turnaround strategy. That review on where we should play and how we should play has been ongoing over recent months. We’re not walking away from those markets, we’re just going to focus our approach. If someone wants our expertise on gaming systems or hardware, they know where we are and we’ll be responsive to their needs.
CI: Viridian was launched a couple of years ago, and it seemed to have a subdued launch in the US at G2E and much more fanfare in Europe, where its energy efficiencies were trumpeted. Why is that?
Daniel Lindsay: We took a different approach to
how we launched Viridian here. Obviously it was a major milestone for the company – releasing a new platform and a new cabinet doesn’t happen every year.
In the US, they gave it as much precedence as we did with the European launch, it was just handled in a different way.
CI: JAWS was a very prominent game theme at IGE for you – the stand had a very focused feel, with colour co-ordination around the film’s iconic posters and the like. How’s the game been received?
WJ: We’re very proud of it, the game was released in the Americas a couple of years ago and Australia last year, Europe in 2010 and we’ve had great success with its performance. We’re expecting good things out of this product in Europe over the next 18 months.
DL: We launched 25 new Viridian titles on the Gen7 platform at IGE as well, it wasn’t just JAWS. There were novel and brand new concepts for Europe
including the launch of two triple standalone progressives, we had a new game pack for Money Train with four new games, and around 20 other standalone Viridian titles.
CI: Licensed product can be very hit and miss – companies often have to bid for a licence even before a movie is released, for example, so it’s a real gamble. Is licensed product going to play a big part in future game line-ups or will you focus on developing more of your own titles?
WJ: Depends on the player preferences. We’ve got some brilliant proprietary product like Money Train and Bank Buster. Consumers like to play different styles of games, they have different requirements; licensing product like JAWS, it’s a great concept and they attract a certain type of player. We think that market is 25 to 30 per cent of the jackpot space, and if that’s what it is we want to play in that jackpot space. If that requires that 30 per cent of our jackpot product be licensed, then it will be. If it’s a good title and we can make it in to an exciting game that players want to play, then we’ll go and acquire that title.
DL: We do have a more focussed approach when it
comes to licensed products. Some of the licensed products we’ve had over the last few years like Zorro and Golden Goals can only complement the strong library of intellectual property we already have. It’s a combination. Licences can be expensive, and that initial
attraction that a brand or strong licence creates is only half of the battle, because if the game underneath is not compelling, players will soon work it out then walk away. It’s not as simple as putting a big name up there and expecting it to earn money.
CI: So you’re in a five-year plan right now
– where are you then, at the end of those five years?
DL: Reclaiming the mantle and reputation of
Aristocrat being the world’s number one gaming business.
MAY 2010 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46