Focus 3RD-PARTY GAME DEV


competitive one? Are you all cutting each other's throats?


Justin Chamberlain - Betlow: “Not cutting throats I don’t think and in my experience most developers are happy to share information and opportunities where applicable. It’s actually a reasonably nice circle of people!”


Steve Schrier - Ash Gaming: “Yes, it is highly competitive. The danger is only when the relationship becomes about price and not performance. Then it just becomes a race to the bottom with regard to pricing leaving the games suppliers unable to be able to continue with any innovation. Operators then will receive mediocre games that don’t deliver for players or operators.”


Ramiro Atucha - Leander Games: “Absolutely! There are a few interesting companies and each of us with a different product approach. I think in the end it will all come down to the relation between a game vision, its execution and the way it is presented to the operators and subsequently - how it is presented to the players. At the end of the day, the players will have the vote. Also, the fact that companies such as WMS, IGT and Aristocrat are bringing their content online is certainly raising the standards and making the whole sector more competitive.”


Jaydeep Chakravartty - Cozy Games: “In the gaming industry there are only few companies that have all the regulatory requirements to operate as a software provider. There is a stiff competition, however most of the companies have established a niche area for themselves. I think there is room for all these companies to grow as the industry becomes more regulated.”


Peter Causley - Lightening Box: “Competitive yes, those sensibly positioned should keep their throats intact though!”


Scott Smith - Next Gen Gaming: “Clearly with more competition comes pricing pressure. The industries acceptance of revenue share reduces the exposure and risk for clients. Ultimately the success of the games will determine the return.”


Is there much experimentation that goes on in the creation of your games - or is there a formula that you stick to with each product for speed and safety?


Jaydeep Chakravartty - Cozy Games: “There is a lot of market insight involved before we actually start the process of game development. However, there is a lot of calculated risk as well that we take


December 2011 Page 64


while working on the designs, like playing with themes and colour combinations. While there are certain parameters which we try to absolutely avoid (like communication protocol), there are frequent changes to the design unless satisfactorily completed and approved by the marketing team.”


Steve Schrier - Ash Gaming: “We try to strike a balance between experimentation and sticking to the ingredients that we know work, by always innovating a little you are always learning something.”


Scott Smith - Next Gen Gaming: “Our design teams are constantly exploring new concepts and we regularly release new innovative designs however there will always be a foundation of solid tried and true design principles underpinning these games.”


Justin Chamberlain - Betlow: “It can take weeks and sometimes month to experiment with both the creative and the mathematics of a game and in most cases we are guided by what our client initially think of them.”


Peter Causley - Lightening Box: “We like to give them something they are familiar with, along with a dose of the new.”


Ramiro Atucha - Leander Games: “This shouldn't be about speed and safety, but about pushing the limits through ‘innovation.’ We experiment a lot, on all levels, including functionality, game concepts, graphics and mostly on the mathematics. Any company in this industry going for speed and safety will end up repeating their products and that's what we need to avoid.”


Currently, every major game developer makes a big noise about of their R&D spend - how do you value R&D as part of your budget - and what differences are there between how you allocate resources in this direction?


Scott Smith - Next Gen Gaming: “Constantly investing in new products and technologies is very important to our company. We also ensure we protect our trademarks and patents. Clearly, the larger the company the bigger the capability to invest in these areas.”


Justin Chamberlain - Betlow: “Being a small company our R+D spend is actually very low and making big noises about even lower!”


Ramiro Atucha - Leander Games: “I can easily say that most of our budget goes there because any money spent in building a game is ‘development’ and any development implies ‘research.’ In our


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