KONAMI EYES MILLENNIALS TO BOOST GROWTH
The millennial player segment is one of the areas Konami Gaming Inc is keen to explore in order to promote business growth, says the company’s new president and chief executive, Steve Sutherland (pictured).
“The biggest potential for growth is likely with new player demographics, particularly millennial audiences,” Mr Sutherland told GGRAsia “
“Across our industry, operators and suppliers are trying to find the right products to resonate with millennials’ entertainment preferences.” Millennials refer to people who came to young adulthood after the year 2000. Now in their 20s and early 30s, they typically have more disposable income than did their predecessors.
Spectrum Gaming Group LLC, a research and consulting firm covering the casino gaming industry, said in December it expected one of the top industry trends for 2017 to be casinos leveraging their “underutilised square footage to create special attractions for millennials, including lounges, entertainment and skill-based gaming options”.
Research firm Technavio recently suggested that equipment sales in the land-based casino industry would be increasingly influenced by the tastes of millennials. “The increasing digitalisation in most entertainment segments such as gaming and movies has been a major factor attracting the younger age group (18-35),” said the firm in research published in December.
“At Konami, we’re targeting new creative product types that appeal to broader audiences,” Mr Sutherland told GGRAsia.
Konami Gaming is also introducing skill-based gaming products to its portfolio, some of which feature musical-rhythmic elements. Mr Sutherland said these concepts “carry strong potential in reaching millennial audiences”.
Skill-based games in the casino context are typically electronic gaming machines (EGMs) – often but not exclusively slot machines – where a percentage of the return to player (RTP) is reserved for a skill element during a game feature.
The Konami Gaming CEO stressed that research and development remained one of the main priorities for the firm. “We’ve identified specific opportunities to drive growth for Konami’s core business as well as new product segments, and those opportunities will help shape our direction through the coming year and beyond.”
Mr Sutherland additionally said that Konami Gaming also planned to introduce assets from parent Konami Holdings – namely innovations from the amusement and consumer entertainment space – into the casino market to help drive future gaming product.
Konami Gaming is a U.S.-based maker of slot machines and casino management systems for the global gaming market. The firm is a subsidiary of Konami Holdings Corp, a Japanese-based conglomerate. While Konami Gaming focuses on the North America casino sector, sister firm Konami Australia Pty Ltd is in-charge of the Asia Pacific region excluding Japan.
Sources: ggrasia.com / gamblingsites.org
