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C XXX GAMES
S P O N S O R E D E D IIT O R IIA L
SPONSORED ED TOR AL
SLOTS
CONTENT FOCUS
Launching in Thinking
Aristocrataoutside the box
crowded
market
Sam Nickless of Aristocrat
explains how one of the
leaders of the land-based
Rob Wheeler is taking Games discusses
slot world of Cozy its
successfully games to a range
premium launching new games
content in channels, including
of new an increasingly crowded
marketonline market. compelling
the by producing
gaming propositions, getting effective
distribution and navigating
regulated markets
T
o understand the challenges facing new game content
providers looking to establish themselves in the online
gaming industry, we need to appreciate the market they are
entering. The online gaming industry is constantly evolving and
has come a long way since its inception in 1996. With the volume
of mergers and acquisitions that have taken place there are now
some very large operators and suppliers to compete within the
space. As if that wasn’t enough, many markets are now regulating,
including certain states in the US, which has meant that following
IGT’s lead, the majority of the leading game manufacturers from
the land based casino industry are pushing their content out
online and on mobile.
A tier 1 operator today may have up to 400 flash games and 100
HTML5 games as well as running their mobile specific strategy for
Native Application. Their biggest performing games will command
the best real estate on their site or mobile portal, the old 80-20
rule still holds true, that 80% of the their revenue will come from
the top performing 20% of their games. Operators are going to
VICTOR CHANDLER
Sam Nickless is the Managing
Director of Emerging Businesses
Rob Wheeler is commercial director at Cozy
Games. Having worked & Strategy, responsible for
in the gaming industry
Aristocrat’s lotteries, online
for the last nine years, Rob has played an integral and
content licensing businesses. Sam
role at a number of highly respected gaming
joined Aristocrat in 2009
companies including IGT Interactive (formerly and was
previously at National Australia
WagerWorks) and Virtue Fusion. He joined Cozy
Bank and at McKinsey
Games in early 2012 as commercial director. & Company.
www.egmagazine..com
www.egrmagazine.com
want the best performing games from IGT, Bally, Net Ent and WMS
but so are their competitors, which leaves the door open for the new
content providers to provide something different. The growth of
mobile and tablet gaming really opens the door to innovation.
There are many parts to the mechanics of what makes a good slot
game. The theme, the game maths and the volatility of the game, the
game speed, the second screen bonus features, the sound, the sound
announcement devices, the win animation, progressive jackpot
mechanisms and the subtlety of this mix will define the success of
eGaming Review (eGR): Tell us oflittle about Aristocrat’s emerging the
that specific game. The sum a these parts will engage and draw
businesses strategy?
player in to the game play with a heavy weighting on the intricacies
Sam Nickless of the Our vision is to reach more players be a gaming
and effect (SN): maths model. The end result has to with our
game content by providing access through new channels. Aris-and
proposition that is compelling and that operators understand
tocrat began over 50 years ago as a manufacturer of well engiappreciate, recognise how to market and the segment of their player
neered, reliable, secure and fair gaming machines. The hardware
base that it will appeal to.
was crucial to challenge is distribution, if a game provider has their own
The next this. Until only a few years ago, we manufactured
even basic game server technology they willourselves. So ouroperators
remote components like nuts and bolts be able to reach business was firmly based onplatform of the game contentto them directly,
that have proprietary the sale and serve the game and the box
as a bundle. Now a terminal in a land-based need toor club is only
for the remainder of operators they will casino access operators
one, albeit important, way of accessing our content. We are now
via third-party platform. There are twelve or so open, third-party
looking for ways to get our quality content to biggest in whatever
platforms out there. The lead time for the players open platforms
legal market they want toyears before the games go live with the end
can be as long as two play.
customer and access could prove cost prohibitive, this is aside of the
eGR: What opportunities does that present for deploying is going to
game development cost already incurred. No operator Aristocrat’s content in new content too closely if they don’t know when they
look at any game arenas?
SN:are going toAristocrat has createdare third-party platforms that are
We believe get it. However there some of the most distinctive
andquicker and more cost effective, which provide decent operator
entertaining gambling games in the world. The success and
longevity of our most generallytitles in the major casino markets
distribution and are famous more game provider friendly.
confirms this belief. It’s the doesn’t needoftheir mathematics and
The game provider combination
the own remote game
the server technology, experience that comes from our deep heritfeel for the player they can develop games directly to third-party
ageplatforms, utilisingPlaying Aristocrat is no longer constrained
in this industry. that third-party platforms existing infrastructure
to where game development process, forOur initial suiteengines can be
in the we can place our te