Focus
MICROGAMING
"There's a great deal of debate regarding branded games," stated Jean-Luc. "Personally, I believe that less is best. You have to strike a balance between licensed product and games with no restrictions. Tomb Raider was a great licence for us, but there are problems in heading down that path too often. We would never stick a brand on a poor game. We go to great length and efforts in making great games, but if you brand everything you create then you'll ultimately be hit by multiple payments for under-performing licences. It also raises questions as to how many licensed products does an operator want for their site? Just how many superhero games do you need?"
TAKEMETOTHEMOVIES Microgaming does stick to a policy of creating only brand new games. In a revenue share relationship, poor performing games affect the developer as much as they do the operator. Microgaming has a vested interest in each of its games performing out of their skin. Revenue share of the brand, compromise what we think is good about the game, and we are onto our third renewal with Square Enix (formally Eidos) for Tomb Raider.
"In creating The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, we wanted to maximise the potential of the licence and make sure the game is as polished and pleasurable to play as possible," explained Jean-Luc. "The cinematics from the film and sound delivers a real movie-like experience. The theming also extends beyond the game with the marketing material all pre-cleared assets adhering to Warner Bros. brand guidelines and delivered to operators as part of the overall package. The operator conducts the promotion, but the marketing assets are provided by us."
At the time of G3's visit to Microgaming,
the company had over 120 online casinos on its books, each receiving a constant flow of games, including the new The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. "Potentially it's a must-have game for all our casino customers and we see opportunities, as we see increased fragmentation of the market, for the sports-book sector to also welcome this game," said Jean-Luc.
GOFISH Sitting with Lydia Melton discussing Microgaming's poker development is akin to sitting down with Stephen Hawking to discuss the universe. There's a great deal of focused interest in the online poker sector right now, especially in response to regulated markets. Prima Networks Limited’s online poker network, powered by Microgaming went live at the beginning of September. Microgaming manages three poker networks; Microgaming's own, its Italian network and the recently launched French poker network, which was formed through a recent joint venture with Prima Networks Limited, powered by Microgaming and 888 Holdings plc. Microgaming offers three different poker offers ranging from a 3D environment to downloadable software and flash-based poker platforms on the Microgaming Poker Network, and will soon be available on all three networks.
There's been a real shift in ideology, explains Lydia, as to what a poker player means to the eco-system of poker. Online poker is seen as an eco-system by all the major players in the online poker sector, though each is coming at the concept along different paths. Right now, determining and attaching a direct value to each online poker player is the sector's equivalent of finding the Holy Grail. In the past the concept of rake has been borrowed from offline poker, but it doesn't necessarily fit well with online
G3i I ISSUE 2 I PAGE 28
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 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68