Open-source platform provider TGG is looking to fill what it sees as a major gap in the global gaming market by providing game options that suit operators of all shapes and sizes.
PLUGGING the holes. It’s a term that fits well when describing open-source platform pioneer TGG, whose rapid expansion over the past 12 months has centered around filling what it sees as a major gap in the global gaming marketplace.
On a broad scale, that means helping ensure the growing number of tourists visiting cities such as Macau, Las Vegas, Singapore and Manila is matched by a reciprocal growth in gaming revenue.
“Although visitor numbers and gaming revenue are both increasing every year, gaming revenue is not growing fast enough to catch up with the number of visitors and the gap in between is what TGG is aiming to improve,” explains TGG co-founder Raymond Chan.
At a micro level, TGG’s business model revolves around what it sees as a lack of diversity among the world’s slot machine manufacturers, which translates into casino floors largely serving up similar offerings to those found in any other gaming floor across the globe.
Chan describes it as “saturation” of the industry, adding that, “most slot products are getting similar and are duplicated all the time.
“The supply is not matching the customer’s demand effectively and it causes a gradual downturn in the creative industry.”
The solution, as far as TGG is concerned, has been to inject “new blood” into the industry via its open-source gaming machines network, which brings global electronic gaming developers and casino operators together for the gaming industry.
The platform is essentially used as a tool to accept games from different segments – such as young, innovative game developers in Japan or Korea – and unlock a pathway for these newcomers to inject their creativity into the market.
This concept also addresses the trend of casino visitors around the world getting younger, with studies showing that the average age has dipped from over 50 a decade ago to around 44 as of 2016.
“The first thing that popped into our mind was how to increase the potential customer and gaming revenue from a wide range of ages,” Chan says.
“In order attract the younger generation, innovations and new product creations of electronic games is needed. Bringing new ideas and innovations into the gaming market is always the core value of TGG and the TGG platform allows a variety of game types to integrate.”
The result is that TGG now boasts 17 development partners offering over 200 unique gaming titles that can be deployed across its network of 13 client casinos in 10 countries around Asia, Europe, Latin America and soon to include the USA and Australia.
However, it is in Asia that TGG sees its greatest strength in the near term.
“Comparing the research data from 2005 to 2015, market share among the Asia-Pacific region has risen from being the lowest to becoming the market dominator in just 10 years,” Chan says.
“Because of the booming of the economy in China and related Asian regions, the buying and purchasing power of the middle class consumer has increased rapidly.
“As an international firm based in Hong Kong, TGG has a team comprising global casino operators and engineers that are all familiar with Asian culture. We believe that provides a huge competitive advantage for TGG because we understand the wants and needs of the Asian players. TGG has successfully entered into Korea already and we are expecting to expand deployment in Singapore, Vietnam, Macau, Philippines and Cambodia in the near future.”