The incredibly strong presence of customers from Asia at G2E in Las Vegas this week highlights the strength and ongoing growth trajectory of the Asian market, according to General Manager, Asia of Aristocrat Gaming, Lloyd Robson.
Operators from across Macau, the Philippines, Singapore and more have been walking the G2E expo floor over the past three days in what many suppliers told Inside Asian Gaming is the greatest representation they’ve ever seen at the long-running US trade show.
And for Robson, such ubiquity shows just how strongly almost all Asian markets have rebounded over the past two years.
“It‘s almost reminiscent of a G2E Asia and by far the strongest and deepest line-up of customers from Asia I’ve seen in the seven years I’ve been coming here,” he told IAG.
“For me, I think it is validation of the things we’re seeing and feeling on the ground in Asia. We’ve spoken before about most of the markets performing very strongly with GGR growth and customer interest, and the fact that [Asia’s operators] are all here looking at how they can continue to evolve and grow their business shows the level of optimism that exists in the Asian market at the moment.”
Asked what has caught customers’ attention, Robson replied, “We’ve got a dedicated area of the show this year because we knew how many were coming from Asia.
“One of the key highlights for us that we’ve been showing is the extension of the Dragon Link family where we’re probably going the deepest into a game family that we have in some time in Asia, so customers are getting a taste of some of those key titles that are coming next year.
“We’ve also got some new standalone product that we’ve been showcasing in the likes of Buffalo. Grand Legends and Grand Star are some new five-of-a-kind products that we’ve been showing which have literally gone live in the Philippines in the last two weeks but customers are here being able to see and touch and play.”
G2E has also, Robson explains, provided an opportunity to showcase the latest games being developed for the North American market, some of which will inevitably make their way to Asia in one form or another in the future.
“There are quite a few games that our studios are talking to us about the prospects of bringing them to Asia,” he said. “I think all suppliers have been guilty in the past of dropping games from the US and hoping they stick in Asia but we have seen some game families from the US – at least in terms of the art package – changed and refined for the Asian market.
“A game like Bao Zhu Zhao Fu is performing exceptionally well at the moment in the Philippines and Macau. That was originally built for the US but then rebuilt for Asia.
“So, there are a few of games interest, it’s just about making sure we get the configurations and the volatility profile right for the Asian player base.”
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