Interview
G2E LAS VEGAS 2018 IGT Interview
We get accustomed at trade shows to seeing amazing products that aren’t yet market-ready - but all the products on the IGT booth are available for roll-out - how do you create market-ready volume on the scale we see at G2E Las Vegas?
Our philosophy has really shifted in the last couple of years in which we see G2E as a selling show for the company to drive marketshare. In every part of the portfolio the strategy is to show product that is approved today, something that will be approved in the next quarter and something that will support us in the subsequent quarter. It’s a strategy that has been really well received by our customers. At G2E 2018 we had more approved product than ever before, which is purely down to coordination between the development studios and the product marketing division to build sales and marketing materials to launch the product at the right time. We are seeking to jump start our 2019 with a healthy funnel of products.
To accomplish that you have to be able to forecast, push through procurement and manufacturing to be ready to go. It’s taking us a long time to get to where we are today, to be efficient in the way we bring products to market and it’s a skill set that we are continuing to hone.
What’s are the ingredients to making a successful games development team and how do you pull together the necessary skill sets?
It all starts with the studios, which are the heartbeat of the organisation. If the studios are disconnected from the business, or they have
too much autonomy, it can be dangerous. Managing the creative elements of the studio can be tough, because you have to give them freedom to create amazing games. We have established a great process to make sure that they are connected to the business, understand what we are trying to achieve and appreciate the volume of products we need to deliver. Inside my organisation I have a group that takes care of all the focus testing, test-banks and market- related focus groups and brings that full circle back into the development process.
Finally, from a development standpoint, we have introduced a lot of seniority into our studio leadership positions and very clearly established what skillset is required for each studio. For example, we have two studios producing only Core Video product titles, a set of Premium and mechanical reel studios, and peripheral studios, to ensure that it is not a free- for-all. IGT is not a democracy in which studios create games to meet capacity. We have built our studios around a type of portfolio that we want to deliver to the market and it is working very well.
Having stabilised the core video product, what’s the next step - what’s the next part?
Te Premium portfolio has achieved stabilisation and improved the install base; the mechanical reels segment is a tale of two stories - we are very happy with our penetration and performance in low-denomination and while we need to strengthen high-denomination, we believe the products showcased at G2E will achieve and surpass those goals. I think in 2019
you’ll see even greater performance from our products in high-denomination mechanical reels. In systems, we have the most innovative product line in systems right now.
We have been awarded every major new opening in the last two years, which has been fantastic for the company. And then there’s the peripheral businesses: there is plenty of marketshare to steal in the Class II segment, and the strength of the Core Video turnaround is going to drive that. In the state of Washington we are the market-leader with our CDS product Triple Fortune Dragon - and overall I think the mainstream Class III portfolio is very close to firing on all cylinders, which will propel us to a great 2019.
And where does the CrystalBetting Terminal fit into the mix?
It’s a product that we’ve been working upon for the last year, the brainchild of which was the realisation that there’s a lot of dead space within the sports-book environments of US operators. Forcing the player to stand and visit the counter to make a bet seems unintuitive and can intimidate people. Te CrystalBetting Terminalproduct is designed to take advantage of that space and to allow in-game betting to take place at any point in time. We have performed a tremendous amount of focus group testing on the cabinet, which plugs nicely into the technology that pre-exists within sportsbooks today. It enables operators to utilise the space available to drive occupancy and wagering. We think it is going to create a nice little home for itself on floors across the US.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P57
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