PROFILE
Who’s who: Alexandre Tomic This month: ALEA’s Co-founder
How did you first get involved with the gaming industry? I have been involved in the gaming industry for more than a decade now, having started out as a gaming affiliate and SEO expert. I co-founded ALEA in 2012 with my business partner Charles Gross as a way of capitalising on the growth of VR and the opportunities we were certain it would present in the gaming industry.
What attracted you to this sector? I think the most appealing thing about the gaming industry is the way it offers those with a great idea, and the right approach, an opportunity to build something successful. The gaming industry is only around two decades old, so it is still some way from maturity and this means it remains vibrant. Things are always changing; just look at the way mobile turned the industry on its head a few years ago. There is always a new challenge and that is something really appealing to me.
Favourite…
Movie: Mulholland Drive Music: Daft Punk Pastime: Sightseeing, outdoor activities, video games Book: The Bhagavad Gita Pizza topping: Buffalo mozzarella
What were you doing prior to the gaming industry? Before I entered gaming I was involved in the digital marketing sector, and also had some sales experience, so there were definitely transferrable skills. I think gaming was quite slow to embrace modern marketing techniques, and there are still areas that have yet to be optimised, so we are always trying to learn lessons from outside of the industry.
What are you responsible for in your current position? As co-founder of ALEA I am responsible for the company’s overall growth strategy. We have developed a really strong product so the next step is to ensure that we can take this product to the people who will enjoy it, and working out the best ways to achieve this is my main focus now.
What have been the biggest industry changes you’ve seen in your time? The gaming industry is hard to recognise compared to what it looked like a decade ago. I think if I had to pick the single biggest change it has been the advent of mobile gaming. Everyone suspected mobile could revolutionise gaming, but I’m not sure many people predicted quite how quickly it would do so. I predict VR could have a similar effect over the coming years and when we look back at 2016 in another ten years’ time, it will seem equally unfamiliar.
What are the biggest positive factors for your sector right now?
There are a lot of reasons to be cheerful. On the whole, markets are introducing sensible regulation. Technology is presenting operators with the tools to create products which engage users in ways which were previously impossible. And most importantly online gaming as an industry is growing at an enviable pace.
And what are the negatives ones – the obstacles to growth? There are still a handful of European jurisdictions which are failing to regulate in a way which encourages innovation and a safe gaming environment. It is critical that regulators work closely with stakeholders to understand new technology and regulate it well, otherwise everyone ends up losing out.
Looking at your entire career, what do you think was your smartest move? That would be the decision to move from affiliate to operator. We were the first casino affiliate to offer customers the chance to play a wide selection of games for free. We even had a back-end where a player could log-in and save their favourite games, as well as receive recommendations. We were offering more than 1,000 games, so it made sense to make the jump and become an operator. We’ve approached it with a completely different design and branding angle.
And dumbest one? Not maintaining our position as a market-leading affiliate. If you look at the most successful affiliate companies today, such as Catena Media, they are performing very strongly. By focusing on traffic, it is possible to keep costs far lower than they are when running an online casino. Catena particularly have done extremely well, with the share price almost doubling over the past few months. We should have continued to develop this side because now we have to buy traffic from firms in this sector, which can prove expensive. This is the direction the market seems to be heading in, but of course it is not sustainable if the operators are not making money.
Where do you hope you’ll be, professionally, in ten years’ time? We are in a really exciting place at the moment and I genuinely believe that over the next ten years we can help redefine the gaming industry. As we are pioneering an entirely new segment, it is a huge responsibility, so more than anything I hope to be able to look back in ten years’ time at how we reinvented online gaming.
OCTOBER 2016 65
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