Under the lead of recently promoted SVP of Global Sales and Business Development Takashi Maekawa, Sega Sammy Creation is looking to make a splash in Asia via the introduction of new slot products.
Japanese gaming product supplier Sega Sammy Creation is aiming for the sun, with a plan to not only enter the Asian slot machine market but – in the long-term at least – challenge the big boys.
Traditionally known for its electronic table games products and its standalone baccarat game Maximum Fortune Baccarat, which has produced some promising results in Macau in recent years, SSC’s new slots strategy is the brainchild of Takashi Maekawa following his recent promotion to SVP of Global Sales and Business Development. Having previously overseen the company’s US operations, Maekawa told Inside Asian Gaming that there is no better time than now to diversify its Asian product offering.
“We’ve learned a lot doing business in the US, and the focus in the US has become slot machines, traditional slot machines, so we’re now looking to try and find success in the slot market on the mass gaming floors in Macau,” Maekawa explained.
“We’re at a very unique moment in Asia right now where we’ve had the pandemic but also the new regulations (Technical Standards 2.0) taking place in Macau and the change from VIP play to, we hope, more mass play. So, I think if we can do it with the right strategy and right product, there’s a lot of opportunity in Macau for slot products.”
SSC’s decision to finally make a concerted move not only into Macau but Asia as a whole came after a visit by Maekawa to the Philippines in February – just two months before his promotion to the global role.
Immediately recognizing the extraordinary growth taking place in the Philippines, which is renowned as a slot-centric market, he quickly called for a change in the company’s strategy by launching a raft of new products onto the country’s gaming floors.
“We were limiting our product line-up to just one cabinet, which is the 43-inch J-Curve cabinet, but in the US we’re focused on the 49-inch portrait screen, so I said, ‘Let’s introduce both cabinets and the slot machines that did well in America’. I’m not saying that the same product works – it’s a totally different market – but right now is the time to put the products out and learn what’s going on in Macau and the Philippines in slots.
“We have time right now and in the next four years – when Macau has to be fully 2.0 compliant – to adjust to the market, so we’re going to look for the opportunities there for growth. I believe our ETG product is still going to be core and it’s going to be the driving force in Macau, but we’re also looking for additional market share with our slot machines.”
According to Maekawa, the Sega Sammy Creation of today is a very different company to the one he first started with back in 2011, with its broader industry experience – backed by the strength of its hardware capabilities from decades spent in the video game industry via Sega – making this the perfect time to focus on Asia.
Asked what added benefits he himself brings to the global sales role, Maekawa said, “I think I bring a faster pace and the nimbleness of a small manufacturer.
“We’ve made a lot of progress as a manufacturer and keeping up with the demands not just in terms of support but also in terms of development: that high rotation you need to be able to introduce new product to the casinos.
“Because we’re smaller [than the leading manufacturers], we want to be nimble with the support and the products. In my case I can see things globally and bring more of a global strategy in terms of the products we provide and the release timing. Our roadmap is now a global roadmap instead of just having region by region plans, which will be beneficial for the big corporate groups as well as independent casinos, because I can see what’s going on in the market globally. We now have the ability to switch and be more flexible on production as well as development, so I think that’s the benefit I can provide.”
It has certainly been a fast start. In the Philippines, SSC has already reached agreement on placing new products into Solaire Resort at Entertainment City and will also be on the floor at Okada Manila soon. Likewise, the next few months will see placements at Galaxy Macau, The Venetian Macao, City of Dreams Macau and Studio City – an opportunity, as Maekawa describes it, to “prove that we can support the interest they have given us.”
But SSC’s ambition doesn’t stop there.
“We’d like to compete with the bigger companies, but even more we’d like to be known as a gaming manufacturer, not an electronic table game manufacturer,” Maekawa says. “We want to place ourselves among the other companies as a slot manufacturer by having solid slot content, but it’s one step at a time and every install matters.
“We want to get to a point where we’re recognized and people find our product in every casino in Macau and the Philippines, as a first target for us. And then, after maximizing the opportunity in these two markets and having a better understanding of Asia, that’s when I hope towards the end of the year to be able to make that decision on expansion in places like Singapore and other Asian countries. That’s our goal.”
