By Jess Marquez
Bluberi ’ s
Bildungsroman
THE CANADIAN-BORN SUPPLIER IS COMING OF AGE , AND HAVING FUN DOING IT
By Jess Marquez
The city of Drummondville is nestled In the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec , Canada , east of Montreal along the Saint-François River . With a population of about 80,000 , the picturesque city has no shortage of outdoor activities , historical sites and cultural events .
It ’ s also the birthplace of Bluberi Gaming , an iconoclastic , up-and-coming supplier and one of the best stories in North American gaming .
The company ’ s triumvirate of CEO Andrew Burke , CCO Casey Whalen and CPO Mike Brennan all cut their teeth with big-name industry players before making the jump to Bluberi , historically a small Class II-centric outlet . All three joined in the last four years and all are taking a stab at a C- level role for the first time .
In this way , the company faces a lot of pressure to make the dream work with limited resources and experience — but it ’ s also freeing , in the sense that it ’ s more exciting to build a legacy than to preserve one . Even Blubert , the company ’ s vintage-style blueberry cartoon mascot , has grown to become a seminal piece of the company ’ s branding and game content .
“ We all came here and took new roles or bigger roles than we ’ d ever had before ,” Whalen says . “ So it ’ s actually been nice for everybody to take up a new job and seize the moment and have the opportunity in front of them to build out teams , see how they manage , and give them some guidance .”
Whalen , who notched previous stints at Bally Technologies and Konami , acknowledges that the idea of “ finding people who are leaders in waiting at other places ” has been a “ winning recipe ” for the company . When first-timers are eager to take on more opportunities , he says , “ they give you the best because they ’ re just really working hard to prove that they can live up to that moment .”
PAINT THE TOWN BLU
At this juncture , it would appear that the new kids on the block are doing just fine .
In 2022 , Bluberi launched its first smash-hit game , Devil ’ s Lock , which took home the silver medal for Best Slot Product in GGB ’ s Gaming & Technology Awards . The category , like most slot contests , is typically dominated by the “ Big Three ” industry stalwarts of Aristocrat , IGT and Light & Wonder .
On the July Eilers-Fantini Game Performance Report , Devil ’ s Lock sat at No . 36 in the top indexing core games category . All of the other titles in the top 50 were produced by companies with at least 9,500 deployed units — Bluberi has less than 2,000 . Notably , the company was the second-highest indexing supplier overall in July with less than half the units of anyone else in the top 10 .
For Burke , the company ’ s ability to do more with less is akin to an undrafted player getting a shot in the big leagues . All you need is an opportunity to get in the game , and once you get it , you can compete with anyone .
“ Sometimes people are like , ‘ Well , you have to build a great game to continue to grow .’ But so does everybody else in the business ,” he asserts . “ And really , when you break it down , they have similar numbers of people working on each game ; the bigger companies can just build more of them . So we have to make sure that the ones we ’ re building are very thoughtful .”
These constraints are what forces the Bluberi team to be intentional in every release , which Burke says is a “ huge differentiator ” for its products . It also enables designers and marketers to think outside the box and get creative .
“ Creativity doesn ’ t always mean , ‘ Oh , we ’ re going to do something you ’ ve never seen before ,’” he notes . “ It ’ s , OK , if we can only make , say , 12 games this year , how do
22 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2024