eGaming Review

ALL THE TALK WITHIN the industry in recent months has been about the need for innovation.

Arguably it can be said that this element of the online gaming business is going to be even more vital than it has been in the past.

Historically, as an industry we have always been led by innovation. So as we move into further enhancing the gaming experience for our customers – and hence enabling our operators to attract even more players – this aspect of the business will remain just as critical.

I expect everyone knows about the famous diffusion of innovation theory as formalised by Everett Rogers in 1962. The theory suggested that the adoption of a new innovation or idea could be categorised along the lines of a bell curve from innovators and early adopters through to early majority, late majority and finally the laggards.

According to the theory, the willingness of any individual to take to an innovation depends on awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption.

This model has come in for much criticism in the past ten years, particularly by proponents of disruptive technologies which some people suggest radically change the diffusion patterns of an established technology by starting a different competing S-curve.

Speaking as a pioneer, in terms of this industry I believe we are at the stage of a disruptive technology, which is going to set a serious challenge the traditional ways of doing things.

Some of the disruption is going to come from technologies and applications that are already out there as part of the roll-out of so-called Web 2.0. We are going to have to come to terms with integrating elements of these developments into our own offering.

Multi-player slots are a great example of this. Only consistent - almost intuitive - original innovation along these lines will ensure that we stay ahead of the pack and keep existing players returning for more, as well as recruiting and attracting new players to our sites.

But apart from games development, we are also going to have to look to other branches of entertainment, and both learn from their example and look to licensing their property.

In this way, we should look to becoming another part of the entertainment cycle as, for instance, movie goers play the game of the fi lm on their gaming console, and then have a flutter on it on a reputable gambling website, before going out to buy the T-shirt.

Looking to become part of this cycle is a vital expression of the ambition of our industry. Licensing also encourages wider participation and engagement, and of course is also more likely to encourage player spend.

Licensing deals that can be brought to life across multiple gaming platforms will continue to emerge, particularly as the industry moves to ensure that new games will work for mobile as well as TV-based internet. Licensing has many attractions: it puts us at the heart of the entertainment proposition.

I believe this is very much where we belong. Operators can use licensing as a vehicle to bring in new players, increase the net lifetime value from existing players and widen the market for tourists who I believe are going to be key for future growth in the next two or three years.

We are going to have to make ourselves integral to the entertainment property licensing cycle so that film and games studios are going to come to us as naturally as they do clothing manufacturers, console makers and YouTube.

Of course, it means that competition for premium license deals will probably become more intense, reflecting the superior value they deliver. But competition is something that an industry such as ours can only thrive upon.

Posted: 2007-04-12