The pandemic has created industry-wide disruption in the land-based sector, particularly in the US. How has Scientific Games adapted to the ongoing situation and what strategic decisions have been taken?
It has certainly been a challenge. Troughout the US, casinos being shut gave us time to reflect on our strategy going forwards and the types of games we are making. As casinos open back up, nobody quite knows what to expect. We are expecting to see players return to classic and popular games prior to the pandemic, including several third-party licenced games, so the response rate will prove interesting reading. Moving forward, we are not so much shifting our strategy as re-examining what we are doing. Mainly we have used recent months to focus on a long-term view of developing the brand and franchise.
Do current circumstances mean you cannot place any immediate goals or targets?
Te way things work in land-based is different
to digital as the time scale to get games developed, approved and out to market is longer. Te games that we were developing for release in the last three to six months were started a year to 18 months before.
It is very hard to make sharp turns in the land- based world largely due to the fact you are developing on hardware that has a heavier regulatory burden on the games that differs across markets. For instance, Pennsylvania has a different set of rules than Nevada. Terefore, the process is slower and so we must always look to the longer term.
Te pandemic has delayed content going to market so we will take the opportunity to assess the performance of games released prior to lockdown as casinos reopen. We saw positive indicators on recent titles going into the pandemic, namely our Super Colossal Reels series, as well as our Unleashed series and Quick Hit games. We are waiting to see how these titles perform as things ramp up and will adjust our strategy accordingly.
How has the pandemic impacted the development cycle?
We do have some exciting products that we look forward to showing the casino market soon. We launched two new pieces of hardware in the last couple of months as casinos began to reopen in early June. We have introduced the TwinStar Matrix cabinet - a new dual screen hardware cabinet and a new TwinStar five-reel mechanical cabinet. While casino operations were paused, our development teams did a great job figuring out ways to work remotely to get games and software approved and launched successfully. It has been impressive to see it all pulled together under the circumstances.
Michael Mastropietro, Scientific Games
If the industry wants to attract new people, it needs to figure out a way to measure the value of irregular players who prefer specific types of games. I think skill-based gaming was an effort to do that but then it ran into the aforementioned financial problem of whether it is worth the investment. It is a tricky balance.
needs to figure out a way to measure the value of irregular players who prefer specific types of games. I think skill-based gaming was an effort to do that but then it ran into the aforementioned financial problem of whether it is worth the investment. It is a tricky balance.
We made a SPACE INVADERS skill-based game a few years ago and will continue to look at these types of opportunities. Typically, we make games for people who like slots and not a specific demographic, developing games that have an appeal with different segments of slot players regardless of age.
Once you create a game that resonates well with one of these slot players segments, how do you avoid repeating the same game?
It is a difficult thing to do with so much content being developed by the industry these days. SG, IGT, Aristocrat, Konami, Everi, AGS - you have five decent sized manufacturers operating in the US who, alongside others, are producing around 500 titles a year. Tis means slot players have one or two new games being released a day and they need to figure out what they want to play. Like Netflix where you are paralysed by the choices you face, we find players gravitate to things they know such as our Duō Fú Duō Cái or Lock It Link series.
Player behaviour is narrowing not just in slots but across the industry. Te prevailing game mechanics have stayed the same for some time now. Our challenge is to service the established
content mechanics and introduce new gameplay experiences.
A good example is a new game that has recently been approved called Cash Falls. It has some of the elements of the re-spin where you can win prizes based on the values of the symbols, but it is a persistent game that is totally different to what is out there.
Of course, we are taking a chance going outside of the player comfort zone, but it is important to push the edge of these things in order to find the game that flips the script and move players to a new mechanic. It is one of the things we discuss all the time; giving players what they want but still exploring new spaces and trying new things.
The pandemic has seen many land-based players shift to digital. Are we going to see a permanent change in the future of the player environment? Does this enforced change mean we will see less land-based play?
I think it will come back. Presuming we can go back to visiting bars and restaurants in the way we did at the end of 2019; the casino experience will return. Nor do I think it is one or the other between land-based and digital. In markets such as New Jersey, players are enjoying the same games across both spaces. Te two are more complementary and continue to help each other. If online gaming continues to expand in the US, this will be a good thing for land-based casinos.
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P119
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