SPIELO INTERNATIONAL
there are players bigger than us, or that have entrenched positions in various markets or geographies. We can peel the onion back as much as anyone else can and say that in some microcosm of a much larger industry, we’re number one! But that doesn’t mean anything. What we want to do is run the 100 metres faster every time we’re on the track. So this year better than last, next year better than this. How we are rewarded is by being able to set new targets and new records year after year, so it’s up to us to structure the business accordingly.
CI: What are the company’s plans to increase its online presence as a game content provider? What’s the online strategy? WB: Our online strategy has changed significantly
as we are integrating with GTECH G2. On the G2 side, we are one of the B2B platforms on which people base their online operations. As we are combining the businesses we can approach B2C operators with a package of content and a game management system with the ability to integrate across platforms and distribution channels, so it’s a very positive enhancement to our position in the marketplace. The unification of the two groups will enable us to deliver more content and better technology combined with a faster time-to-market across all channels. But beyond that, I’ve been consistent since the day I started in saying that slot manufacturers, if they continue to call themselves slot manufacturers, will be losers in the marketplace. If we change our mentality to being content providers, and have the flexibility and agility to go across platforms, across suppliers, across channels, suddenly the market opens up in a different way. We can all develop great content, we just don’t always have the means to get access to everything; as a sole provider, you can never get access to everything, so you have to learn to play in the sandbox with the other kids. We’ve been a strong proponent of that and we’re starting to see that happen more and more, where people are willing to sit down and talk about doing things together; I am 100 per cent in favour of that.
CI: Presumably the attitude of being a content provider is going to change the direction of your R&D focus? Is becoming a multi-channel provider a direction you’re going to head in? WB: Absolutely. For us – in the most simplistic
terms – what we have defined as our internal mission statement, is: ‘more people playing our games than ever before, anywhere, any time, on any thing’. What this communicates is that it’s a focus on the end user, the players –and what do they play? They play games! So we want more people playing our games across channels and applications, it talks about a seamless experience for the player to be able to move from playing a game in a casino while they’re out with friends, socialising, then they go home and can continue playing the same game, perhaps even on the same jackpot. Or, as we launch episodic gaming, being able to continue playing the actual game you
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were playing in the casino, where you reached a certain level – and picking it up from that point at home. The interesting challenge is, it will open our market up to a whole array of new competition. Suddenly, it’s not about being closed by technology, it’s about being opened by creativity.
CI: Convergence is a key term for many companies in the industry now… WB: The market today says, if you’re not willing to
talk to someone else, chances are someone else is, and you’ll be overtaken. There are too many applications, potential channels and opportunities for you to be able to develop core capability in every one of them, Unless you’re open to key alliances and learning all the way, you’re not going to win anything. If you’re a rigid supplier or manufacturer, you might remain successful… you might not. I always say there’s a company that used to make the
best steam trains in the world. That was their mission statement; and to the day they closed their doors, they were indeed the number one steam train manufacturer in the world, but they only made one a year.
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