“ We ’ re going after the big licenses . Nevada is expected in 2024 . New Jersey is lined up for 2025 . Our plan is to be in 90 percent of all of North America by 2026 .”
— Casey Whalen , Chief Commercial Officer , Bluberi
feel we can get an edge , because there ’ s a long story on the track record of clones , and we feel there ’ s a similar story evolving on the true value of game pairs . We believe that evolving games , breaking them down and building them up with some twists is a better solution .”
“ When your biggest competitors spend 70 times what you spend on R & D , you ’ ve got to be very thoughtful about game design ,” adds Burke . “ The puzzle Mike and team get to try to solve every week is , how do we get more with less ? So , we talk about creativity within confines . It causes us to try to be really clever all the time , and very focused on reusing assets , getting some efficiency into the process . And I think it ’ s paying off .”
With the success of Devil ’ s Lock , expect Bluberi to follow this thoughtful approach on a follow-up .
“ No shock ; we ’ re working on Devil ’ s Lock sequels ,” Brennan says . “ We think we ’ ve got something there , and the value of this company hinges upon our ability to sequelize and spin off our IP , with our characters even making cameos within tracks . And considering the Bluberi character itself , we have a very unique brand around our character , our mascot .
“( The character ) will show up before big wins , and is a part of a giant win celebrations that are rare and legendary — that Instagrammable moment . We ’ re leaning into the brand and we ’ re trying develop our characters and our art . We are letting our art talent and our games — that ’ s really our lifeblood — take center stage .”
Brennan says the company will reveal a name for the company mascot at Global Gaming Expo .
Growth Culture
While Bluberi ’ s growth has “ been on the backs of some really amazing game performance ,” says Burke , much of it owes to the culture created by top management and filtering through the entire team .
“ Culture being the bedrock for us , we ’ ve talked about the people here , but we ’ ve really tried to lean into how we invest in our employees and really get the best out of those employees ,” Burke says . “ We ’ ve recently hired a vice president of HR ( Jenn Bauer ) who ’ s had a ton of tremendous experience throughout the business . She ’ s just started with us , and one of her big tasks will be , how do we create a six-star experience for our employees ?
“ We want this to be a place where they do their best work . We ’ re adding many employees to support the growth , so we ’ ve got to make sure we have a good foundation for all , and that we ’ re empowering employees to make decisions at all levels in the business — to make sure that they can seamlessly do their jobs without having to go through a ton of red tape , which I think is one of the things that turns off a lot of folks at bigger companies and may make us a more attractive place to be .
“ At other companies , easy things are difficult to do because of bureaucracy . At our company , the things we have to do are hard , but they ’ re easier to get done . I really think that encapsulates a lot of our culture , and it ’ s also what we want our culture to continue to be as we go into this growth phase of the business .”
Bluberi ’ s Act Four will be to maximize the potential of that growth by spreading the company ’ s footprint . And there is a lot of greenfield space ahead . The company ’ s current jurisdictions comprise 35-40 percent of all available markets , according to Whalen . “ We ’ re not in Nevada — 120,000 slots — not in New Jersey , Pennsylvania . I head up the licensing and compliance committee , but I work in concert with key stakeholders in all different verticals .
“ We ask , what makes sense for us ? What ’ s the next place we need to go setting ourselves up for success , making sure that the roadmap marries to the things we ’ re doing here internally and how we want to grow the business thoughtfully ? Do we have the people in place from an infrastructure standpoint ? Can we service the games there ?”
The company has a clearly defined plan for spreading its footprint . “ We ’ re going after the big licenses ,” Whalen says . “ Nevada is expected in 2024 . New Jersey is lined up for 2025 . Our plan is to be in 90 percent of all of North America by 2026 .”
“ Our growth is very attainable ,” adds Brennan . “ We can keep scaling what we ’ re doing , and as we open up more places , we have a fresh start . And so Casey ’ s team is really hitting hard . And we ’ ve got some aggressive targets on where we want to be by 2026 .”
Adds Kohon , “ The great thing with awesome game performance and a great sales team moving product is we now have to build all that product and get it installed , and make sure it goes well with the customer . I ’ ve spent a career listening to customers in the sales role , so I really jumped into the operations and service verticals customer-first .
“ I understand the expectations of our customers on an install . I ’ m taking the customer perspective back to who are the most important people in the industry — our customers and the players .”
“ This growth plan , Act Three , is extremely detailed ,” says Brennan . “ We planned everything bottom-up and top-down leading to 2026 . It ’ s ambitious , but it ’ s achievable . And that makes it super special . So , we ’ re right in the middle of it .”
Act Four will conclude when Bluberi ’ s footprint is all over the slot sector . Act Five ? “ It ’ s open , and it could be anything ,” Burke says . “ We could focus on more verticals , make an industry acquisition — who knows ? We ’ re keeping it open and looking forward to an exciting future .
“ I think we ’ re going to really surprise people . People didn ’ t see us coming , and I still think they ’ re not going to see what ’ s coming next . There ’ s a lot more to come from our little company .”
26 Global Gaming Business SEPTEMBER 2023