The Future
If long-term, how quickly will today’s technological marvel become obsolete in the face of faster, sexier technology breakthroughs?
“The strength of the SBG approach is that it is based on standard IT technology and it therefore migrates with the faster, sexier technology breakthroughs that occur in this Industry. In reality, its adoption is future-proofing against the obsolescence imposed in the past by highly proprietary networks and protocols. DLS is still based on proprietary gaming technologies and can be compromised by advances in the more general IT market.”
When is all of this going to happen? At which point should an operator take the plunge?
“DLS and SBG technologies will be in the market and on test by mid-2008. By the beginning of 2009, the technology offerings will have been tested and be poised to enter the main arena.”
What scale of operation would best suit the technology on the market right now? And should an operator test certain areas of their operations or go all-or-nothing into downloadable?
“Both DLS and SBG can be implemented bank by bank. Operators do not need to view this change as a ‘big bang’ solution. It can be done by phase thereby spreading the risks. The key to this is the compatibility of either solution with the casino management system (CMS) that is already in the casino. DLS and SBG need to be compatible with CMS so that regulatory and taxation legislation can be satisfied.”
When will the triple A titles from the stand-alone games market be available as downloadable games?
“Most triple A games require some sort of progressive or mystery linkage to drive the value add. To make these games available in either environment requires both to do more than just manage the download aspect of the technology.”
Will companies exploiting this sector be the familiar names from the gaming industry or will we see new market entrants from different sectors taking the lead in the downloadable market?
“You will see a mixture of both new and existing companies.”
How do you ensure a steady stream of games to terminals? And how do you get top selling games onto your platform when most of today’s games creators are manufacturers of dedicated standalone boxes?
“There are many game content providers, only a few of which are represented by the gaming manufactures. SBG allows us to reduce the cost of content distribution to those other providers so that the choice of suppliers to the operators increases dramatically. It may well take the new entrants a small time to complete a learning curve but ultimately there should be no reason why they can’t be as competent as the current small handful of content providers.”