“ We ’ ve got a lot to be excited about .”
“ We ’ ve been focused on consistency and performance , and on cash flow as well over the past year , and we ’ ve delivered what was promised . So , we ’ re really pleased with the team , and all the operating departments that have gotten us there .”
R & D Focus
Those departments — slots , table games and interactive — are all evolving with new products and a focus on innovation , thanks to a continuous commitment of resources to R & D .
“ It ’ s all driven by the investments we made even before Covid ,” Lopez says . “ We made some investments before Covid in R & D . We made some aggressive investments during Covid . We made some real investments in 2020 in the thick of Covid with casinos closed to enhance our R & D department .”
That investment grew the R & D force from two studios pre-Covid to seven studios today . “ All seven studios are producing games that are in the field now ,” says Lopez , “ and the Eilers report speaks for itself . That ’ s what ’ s driven everything . It all starts with game development .”
AGS game development involves new technology and innovation not only in slots , but in a continuous stream of new table-game and digital products as well .
In the slot division , AGS used its GameON Customer Summit to preview the latest in the Spectra group of products , led by the jumbo Spectra Slant 75 Plus and Spectra Slant 49 Plus Premium cabinets , both featuring new games in the Rakin ’ Bacon series . This is concurrent with the rollout of Revel , the company ’ s first stepper cabinet , shown for the first time at the recent Indian Gaming Tradeshow .
“ We ’ ve got a lot to be excited about .”
— Mark DeDeaux , General Manager and Senior Vice
President , Slots , AGS
“ We ’ ve got a lot to be excited about ,” says Mark DeDeaux , general manager and senior vice president , slots . “ We ’ ve put together a product lineup for Spectra that gives us a chance to lead the mid-tier level of slot suppliers . We ’ ve sold more product in the past three quarters than everyone in the segment .” The Spectra 43 cabinet has been a big part of that success . Spectra 43 was the No . 1 cabinet in the Eilers-Fantini performance report for nine months of last year , and the Spectra 43 Premium launch title Panda Empire debuted on the Eilers Top 20 . DeDeaux predicts the giant Spectra Slant 75 Plus , a huge but easy-to-play , dual-bash-button experience , and the sleek Spectra Slant 49 Plus Premium are likely to generate similar performance .
And of course , the cabinets are being launched with new games in what arguably is the most popular AGS slot brand , Rakin ’ Bacon . The new games in the series feature the well-known game play of all in the series , including the signature pig character “ Cornsquealius ” ( DeDeaux calls the character “ our Mickey ”), as well as new spins on the most popular mechanics of the day .
“ The new Rakin ’ Bacon titles have different mechanics than the original ,” says DeDeaux . “ We ’ re starting to introduce the brand to players who like the three-pot metamorphic style of game . We have some Rakin ’ Bacon games that have the traditional free-game feature , but we ’ ve added holdand-re-spin features to the games , and we have new Rakin ’ Bacon themes that are three-reel formats with a wheel feature . So , Rakin ’ Bacon fits all
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