Casinos are beautiful spaces and operators invest heavily in them and in their staff. So, we need to make sure that we're matching that level of quality to the same or higher degree. We need to ensure that when our customers and their consumers walk those floors, they're delighted by our content strategy. Aristocrat has a long history and strong DNA in gaming. Te math, the game, the software, those things really, really matter. And so does the cabinet. I think it's important for all four elements to come together because we are in the entertainment business. We must delight players and we have to give them a reason to come and check out our latest products, and to sit down and engage with them.
area. Some were huge leaps like Helix, while others saw incremental growth, similar as you say to Apple. So we'll continue to do a little bit of both.
Incremental innovation continues to move the bar further in relation to our three to five and 10 year strategies, Tere’s much more innovation to come! I would say, we're very, very heavily focused on innovation in the short to medium term as well, but less on invention. It’s a distinguish I’d like to make very clear - innovation and invention are not the same thing, so we focus on those two areas separately.
What are the essential ingredients of product strategy - and why has Aristocrat been so successful in recent years in this area?
One thing I believe about
Aristocrat is that we've acted as a leader for the past decade. When I joined in 2014, the Helix cabinet was a huge step change for the industry, and a lot of people said it would never work. It doesn't have the privacy wings. It's too different. Well,
Helix completely revolutionised the design language of slot machines to the extent that most slot machines today look like the Helix.
and it helps us build meaningful relationships. We obviously leverage a lot of technology too, to ensure that I can play the games, see what they're working on and get a feel for the products, even when I can't be there in-person. So, we do a lot of different things and overall, we've got very talented people who I trust implicitly. Tey're empowered to make decisions and make the best games - my job is to help them do that.
What are your passions in terms of product development - how would you describe your approach to game content and hardware development?
I think one of my pet peeves is when people call a cabinet a “box.” Tey’re not boxes, they're cabinets, they're valuable and important. Tey matter, particularly here in North America, as curb appeal is so important. A huge part of what we do at Aristocrat is we spend a lot of time with our customers and consumers. And to me, understanding our customers and understanding their challenges, their strategic plans and what they're trying to achieve goes a long way to helping us understand what we need in terms of variety and cabinet design. Our goal is that no matter what challenge our operator partners are trying to solve, we have the solution.
Aristocrat is in a great place in terms of market leading games content - how do you continue a winning streak? Do you continue to take risks when you’re leading, or take a more conservative - Apple-like evolution approach to product development?
It’s a good question, but I'll humbly disagree with the idea of a streak. I think we've been doing this consistently now for a decade. So, it's a hell of a run, but I get your point. Leading is difficult. One thing I believe about Aristocrat is that we've acted as a leader for the past decade. When I joined in 2014, the Helix cabinet was a huge step change for the industry, and a lot of people said it would never work. It doesn't have the privacy wings. It's too different. Well, Helix completely revolutionised the design language of slot machines to the extent that most slot machines today look like the Helix.
Another area we worked hard upon and really focused our attention was on driving a higher cost of cover. A decade ago, when I arrived at Aristocrat, there were few if any standalone progressives in the North American market. We embarked on a concerted strategy to drive forward standalone progressives. Since that time here's been a ton of innovation in this
I truly believe that talent is the difference maker. I'm lucky to be surrounded by amazing talent. I trust them. I empower them. We work closely together and then we work hard to give them the space and the time they need to be creative and iterative.
Just seeing our teams at work, watching those games evolve from idea to deliverable is phenomenal. Tere are lots of multi- disciplines that feed into that and we're very heavy on data. We're strong in understanding the consumer and the customer. In our gaming business, we have different customers with sometimes competing interests and priorities. So, it's important for us to know them, which we do by spending time to truly understand the problems they’re trying to solve. What are their strategic plans? And how do we ensure that we're aligned to them?
We've all heard of the product looking for a solution, looking for a problem. And our industry is full of those. We focus on understanding problems and then driving the solution. You won't see us being different for the sake of being different. We don't make the games that ‘Matt’ wants to make, or that ‘Matt’ likes to play. Tat's not how we do things. We focus on being better. We know it's a very competitive industry. We know our players are very, very savvy. And when they're being entertained, they know what they like. We need to give them a reason to come and play our latest game, to try it out and maybe spend more time on it than they spent on their old favourite game. We're not different for the sake of it. We're very focused on being better.
Is there a formula for Design and Development budgeting to get the maximum results for the money injected? How much is maths - and how much judgement?
I’d say it’s strategic. Some of opportunities deliver direct ROI. For example, if we enter Georgia COAM, historical horse racing or the New York lottery, for example, there's an investment and in ensuing years, there'll be revenue return. Other opportunities I’d call “enablers to future strategy.” It’s important that we understand what those enablers are so that we're not making short -term decisions that don't benefit the long-term business. Next are the amplifiers. Amplifiers and enablers ensure that we make the right
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