“ We want to be one of the top online suppliers , and as new markets grow and as new types of games come out , we want to make sure that we ’ re competitive .”
— Zoe Ebling , Vice President , Interactive , AGS
leveraging the great expertise of some of the industry ’ s best game designers in the online space who are really focused on making sure that we have a quality product and upholding that standard . I think that ’ s where we ’ re really competitive .”
Building on Success
While there may come a time when suppliers will routinely cherry-pick online hits for launch in the brick-and-mortar world , the dominant method for online success still follows the reverse pattern . As a rule , suppliers are achieving success online with games that have proven themselves on casino floors .
“ Our digital team works with our land-based teams to select the best possible games for our customers based on the game ’ s overall performance on casino floors ,” says Everi ’ s Adair , “ and then we work hand-in-hand with our land-based teams to port over as best we can the experience that players love from our cabinets . Sometimes , we work with a customer to provide them a game both on their floor and online at the same time , as we did with Bet- MGM last year with two three-reel mechanical games , which remain top performers both online and land-based .
“ Our land-based games do exceptionally well online , and nearly all of our ‘ best ’ games so far have come directly from land-based to online , and we don ’ t foresee this changing .”
Slaney at Light & Wonder says collaboration is the key to success , online or on land .
“ The R & D teams across our land-based , social and iGaming divisions work in a very collaborative manner ,” he says . “ They share concepts , ideas , data and insights to provide players with the best content across all three channels in which we operate . We are producing more cross-channel content than ever before , and launching simultaneously across all three channels .”
Rotem at IGT PlayDigital adds that creating omnichannel content is a challenge in itself . “ The technologies are different ( between mobile formats and cabinets ). When we transform the math , we need to do some changes , because when you play with a big cabinet , it ’ s sometimes not so trivial to get everything on your mobile .” Nevertheless , Rotem says the best-performing brick-and-mortar games typically continue their success online .
“ Cash Eruption is one of the best slots in the U . S . every month ,” he says . “ Fortune Coin , Cleopatra , and the Wheel of Fortune series have been performing well ( online ) for many , many years . And our blackjack is the No . 1 blackjack game online . We see that those brick-and-mortar games continue to perform three , four and five years after we release them online .”
Moreover , he says , creating online versions of hits affords flexibility not possible inside a cabinet on the floor . For instance , IGT released a Christmas version of the Cleopatra game , complete with snowy pyramids .
Ebling says some of the tweaks and unique marketing ideas possible with online games has even led a few AGS titles to do better online than on land . “ Artificial intelligence allows a site to pull up games for players who have played similar games before ,” she says . “ Because of some of those kinds of intricacies , you can have a game that does better online than it does on land because of how players are able to find it , where it ’ s available , and what type of players are playing it .”
Still , she says , the heavy hitters on casino floors will be the same online . “ We meet at a high level , and there is a lot of collaboration with ( Senior VP , Slots ) Mark DeDeaux and ( Senior Sales VP ) Adam Whitehurst ; we take a look at what ’ s coming out , what ’ s done well historically on the land side , what ’ s done well on the online side . And we make a comprehensive roadmap , piecing together puzzle pieces .
“ Once we have identified which games we want to bring on both sides , then it ’ s just a matter of the actual studios talking together .”
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