Insight
SLOT CABINET DESIGN Konami’s Concerto
available to older cabinets. “Slot vendors are offering some of the new themes that are compatible. I don’t think the appeal is any different, but gamblers are superstitious. If they had luck with one cabinet they may want to stick with their favorite theme on it.”
So how big an issue is backwards compatibility of games when Konami brings new releases to its casino customers? Is it a deal-breaker or simply an added benefit? And how important is backwards compatibility when you’re launching a new cabinet to offer customers a huge existing library of content? Again, we turn to Matt Reback for the answers.
“Game compatibility is an important component of cabinet support. Across the board, on a global level, our customers want the flexibility to bring our proven game content to a variety of game formats to optimize their unique gaming floor for their players. Casinos need to know that new hardware investments are backed by a lifecycle of available software.
“Six years ago our Podium cabinet family launched with strong emphasis on software compatibility across the various machine types. Konami created a library of KP3 platform base games with a level of compatibility that in most cases brought the same theme across Podium Upright, Podium Slant, Podium SeleXion, Podium Goliath, Podium Monument, and a variety of progressives - even Titan 360,” states Mr. Reback. “We have the same approach for our Concerto cabinet family, and also we’ve included KP3 platform backward compatibility
so our customers have ultimate flexibility in deploying a depth of KP3 and KP3+ across their casino floor.”
COURTING MILLENNIALS It’s growing increasingly hard right now to avoid
a discussion about ‘Millennials’ and the land- based gaming industry. While there appears to be no current magic ‘technology’ bullet that will satisfy everyone, the great debate continues about the need for technology to attract the next generation of players. Our question to the operator panel came at the issue from a slightly different angle. We suggested that if technology such as an iPhone can be used by a three year old, teenager and octogenarian alike – can we create a product to appeal to every generation, or do we need to use product segmentation to reach different player segments?
It’s an issue that Treasure Island’s Chris Garrow has obviously been mulling over too: “As operators we are all looking at the Millennials and their gaming habits, but we also have to keep Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers happy as well,” he underlines. “I study the demographics of people who play certain games and it’s sometime surprising as to what games Millennials play because the games have been out for years. We installed Frogger in July and when I walk the floor to see how it is being played, I see more of the older generation of gamblers playing on it. I think there should be some segmentation, but we shouldn’t lose focus on what has been successful.”
As Slot Director for CODERE México, Juan José
Rivas Soberon considers the question to be tough, and one without an obvious answer right now. “I don’t know,” he admits. “I think the product (the cabinet) could be the same for everybody, but the content (the games) must be different for every segmentation. Te games that attract me, are different to the ones that are attractive to my mother. New generations are different again, they want more control of their games and to interact with others.”
Hard Rock Sioux City’s Kelly Pace thinks that different products certainly appeal to different generations, so sometimes just creating a new theme or feature for a game can help engage the younger generation. Jeff Croes also agrees that the Concerto cabinet has been accepted successfully by all generations on his casino slot floor, noticing that both young and old are going with what’s in fashion, much like our iPhone example. While for Chuck Hickey, he feels that our focus on the generational appeal of slots is mostly academic and lacks the immediacy of what’s important in the here and now.
“Please tell me what the technology will be in 10 or 15 years from now, and I will make sure all the manufactures know what that is so they can develop for that,” replies Mr. Hickey. “I’m a bit of a stick in the mud here. Did we segment our machines in 1970s or 80s or 90s or 2000s? I believe to a certain extent that you just don’t play slots (not counting poker here) till you get to a certain time in your life – call it middle age. Which is why I ask the question about what technology will be available in 10 or 15 years. Tat said – my exception of poker kind of argues
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