ier focus on the visual and audio details rather than on software development ,” adds Slotwinski . “ Our feature library is extremely modular now , which allows our team to easily prototype games much earlier in the development process , thus giving us more time to focus on what the players want to see and hear .”
Along with those increased efficiencies in game development , adds Slotwinski , has been an influx of new talent — not only veteran game developers , but new engineering talent from the rich vein that exists in the Metro Atlanta region .
“ We have been fortunate to obtain veteran talent from the industry throughout my three years at Eclipse ,” Slotwinski says . “ Our talent pool continues to grow with experienced talent as we become more successful in this industry .
“ Additionally , we have partnered with the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and the Gwinnett County school system to help educate the next generation of STEAM students on the gaming industry . We have partnered with multiple universities in the area and began internship programs with them to help promote gaming in Georgia .”
As far as the supply chain issues , Minard and Eclipse were lucky to have a veteran like Visintainer on board , whose experience managing supply chain issues at NCR has been invaluable in keeping production humming along .
“ Leading up to the pandemic , I noticed negative patterns around the CPU , monitor , and integrated circuit industries ,” Visintainer says . “ Three months prior to the pandemic I began to preposition our critical inventory , which really helped us through the pandemic . We did not see any shortages in terms of us being able to deliver cabinets to our customers .”
With all the right elements in place , Eclipse is poised for further growth in Class II , with Class III remaining on the back burner for the future .
“ Washington state is a very important market for us ,” says Evans . “ The growth we see there almost doubled the number of tribes that we participate with . We ’ re just launching this year into the Northern California tribal market , where there is a good concentration of Class II games . We ’ re excited to see our first units get installed this month at Blue Lake Casino , and there are five or six other properties that we ’ ll see prior to the end of summer . California is a great opportunity for us to build up the recognition of our product .”
Other Class II opportunities exist in Kansas , where Eclipse will be in two new properties , increasing the company ’ s footprint to four out of five tribal properties . “ Also , in Oklahoma , we have a large concentration of machines , and we ’ ve been there for a long time ,” Evans adds . “ And in the East , there are opportunities in New York and Florida that our team ’ s pursuing . We ’ re in about a dozen jurisdictions , and we ’ ll probably pick up four or five new jurisdictions next year .”
Minard has said that any company is “ one title away from being a superstar .” He points to several new games within an estimated 18 new titles to be launched by the end of the year that could very well be that superstar title .
“ The games we ’ ve got ready and about to be approved are really good ,” he says . “ We ’ ve seen great early signs on one of our games , Tick Tock Jackpot .” That ’ s a five-reel , seven-row game that creates an adrenaline-pumping experience with a countdown pick game in which players work against the clock to pick symbols to create a chain-reaction explosion that reveals prizes .
Another potential winner is the Big Shake series , three-reel slots that use perceived skill in recreating an arcade-style coin-pusher game . “ The coin-pusher has been around for a long time , but our take on it is bringing in a lot of different elements ,” Minard says . “ I feel like that can be a franchise game .”
Meanwhile , Eclipse is ready for what Minard calls “ the next phase .” That means more Class II jurisdictions , and the inevitable launch into Class III .
“ We see these years as our employee-building years , our strategy-building years ,” Minard says , noting he is “ putting 2027 up on the board ” as the target date for completing that next phase . “ I know we have the ingredients to make that Class III game , and depending upon the market we ’ re going into , we know how to do it .
“ For now , we feel there ’ s still a lot of runway for us to expand in the Class II space and we are concentrating heavily on what it takes to be No . 1 in this industry .”
That runway , as always with Eclipse , goes beyond the game .
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