The future of ATEI

Clarion, the organisers of the IGE, which incorporates the ATEI were probably not that pleased that the story of Earls Court’s future demolition hit the UK newspapers the Friday before the show started. They were quick to issue a statement reassuring exhibitors that they had secured the “home” of the exhibition for the next five years. After that time, the Earls Court site will be developed in order to create housing.

If one thing is certain, the future of the London shows will never be the same. The IGE looked as professional as ever but the focus of the show was unashamedly gaming in all its forms. The difficulty will be for the companies who supply both types of product or who provide components to amusements as well as gaming.

Funworld and TAB Austria stayed loyal to the IGE and expressed no regrets at their decision. As both companies now offer a diverse product range incorporating sports betting kiosks and, for TAB the Golden Island AWP, this decision was probably wise. Wh Berlin was unhappy at the split, as some of its team were at the ExCel on a small concession, while the rest remained at Earls Court. “This is very difficult for companies like ours, due to the costs and the logistics of being at both shows. We shall have to think very hard about where we need to be next year,” said Christian Trenner, Managing Director.

The advantages of ExCel

Exhibitors at the ExCel appeared to be happy with their choice for a number of reasons. Firstly, many found the set up of the stands to be much easier than had traditionally been the case at Earls Court. The flat show floor with wide aisles gave the show a modern feel and allowed for greater visibility, meaning that it was easier to find stands. Many said it felt like one of the big US shows.

The best location?

Exhibitors were also greatly relieved to find that visitors did make the effort to find them at ExCel. Transport links to the East London site are good from the road, although overseas visitors to airports such as Heathrow may be shocked by the long taxi ride across London. Certainly, for people trying to take in both shows, the journey is not easy – taking about an hour and a half by public transport – less in the evenings and maybe more during rush hour.

For those staying around the Excel, there are a number of hotels but for those expecting luxury, it may be worth checking into the quality of the accommodation before travelling. There are a number of bars and restaurants but the area does not compare to the centre of London when it comes to providing entertainment. Unfortunately, this part of London is still being developed and still has a slightly abandoned feel to it, particularly in the evenings.

But the exhibition centre itself does not lack in facilities. It is clean and modern and there are coffee shops and food concessions lining the foyer in the manner of a large station or airport lounge. There was definitely an air of relief among a proportion of the exhibitors that the amusement machine sector was free of its casino connection and had a fine new show of its own.

“We did not know what to expect,” said Helmut Schneller of Löwen Entertainment, which was present at EAG with its electronic darts machines. “We made the decision to come here, even though we heard that it may be mostly a UK show. But we have actually seen many of our overseas customers here and are happy with the reaction. We are not expecting to sell our electronic darts into the UK, which has long had a tradition of steel tips but we do want to see our customers from other regions where electronic darts is strong, such as Eastern Europe.”

The video stars

Overseas visitors keen to see the latest in amusement machines were certainly spoilt for choice at the EAG. Sega had a mammoth booth showing its huge range of products, which was boosted just before the show with the signing of Fantasy Entertainments. “We now have everything, from photo booths, to redemption, cranes, video and novelty,” said Sega’s Justin Burke. “We were pleased with the quality of visitors to the show – there were no time wasters and orders were taken. We think this show will grow even bigger next year.”

Namco Bandai had an extremely busy stand throughout the show particularly around its latest releases H2Overdrive, Tank Tank Tank and the impressive Terminator Salvation. The company is focussing on a new sector, which it calls Fun With Prizes (FWP) incorporating ticket redemption machines from ICE and its own prize machines such as Barber Cut and Clena-Flex.

Electrocoin had another massive stand with over 90 pieces of equipment. Star of the stand had to be Vulcan M, shown in prototype form, from Korean company RASSEN. Featuring a huge and frightening realistic machine gun (developed for training purposes for the Korean military we heard) the game is not for wimps! Electrocoin shared part of its stand with Konami which currently has a strong product range, including the racer GTI Club.

The United Distributing Company also had a strong showing at EAG, boosted by the signing of a distribution contract with leading US company Global VR just before the show. Harry Levy Amusements had a prominent stand featuring the best in pusher products including its latest 12-player Clown Around and the enterprising X Quaker, which comes in cash or ticket payout.

Music to their ears

Music was also well represented at EAG. Sound Leisure and its music supply partner Soundnet barely had time to pause for breath on their stand. Sound Leisure always uses the January shows to push the digital music concept forward and this year was no exception. The Venue Hub is another first for the digital pay-per-play market, giving users instant social network access to publish their song choices and playlists. It also provides live news and weather feeds and other venue specific information and gives users a unique song search interface with multiple search options on the same screen and a Iphone like touch screen swipe functionality.

NSM Music had stands at both the EAG and the ATEI this year and launched its Fusion digital jukebox. In its chrome cabinet, the Fusion is an elegant addition to the Icon range and features NSM’s network advertising platform, where operators who agree to accept advertising sourced by the NSM team can receive a rebate towards their music costs.

Irish jukebox specialist Almotech also took a stand at the EAG and launched its third digital jukebox after the Eclipse and the Mystro. The new Volt is designed to be an entry-level model, and along with all the Almotech jukeboxes will now be running the AMI V3 User Interface Software.

A gamble for AWPs?

Many of the leading AWP brands remained at the IGE this year. Some, such as Astra, had small concessions at the EAG but based themselves more firmly at the IGE. Others, like Reflex Gaming decided to stay away altogether this year in order to make a decision after visiting both shows.

There were several large distribution companies present at EAG, such as AMG, whose Mark Sowray was extremely positive about the new show. “EAG is here to stay! AMG had an outstanding show, we were delighted at the number of quality visitors in attendance. The show proved that no matter what size or position of stand you had it was all about having the right product. We had a number of fantastic product and are excited about the near futures prospects,” he said.

Meanwhile, commenting on IGE, JPM International Sales and Marketing Director Simon McCarthy said, “We approached IGE 2010 full of optimism following a year where, despite an industry in turmoil, we continued to produce new and popular games. In that we were not disappointed, as our games and solutions were very well received by the UK and European visitors alike. The UK market is a re-entry for us and our strategy of re-engineering our back catalogue has proven highly popular in the single site market. All in all we are extremely pleased with IGE this year and look forward to 2010 with cautious optimism.”

The value of having an integrated presence at IGE was explained by Robert White, Vice-President of IGT-UK Group, who said: “Barcrest Group, WagerWorks and Million-2-1 have enjoyed great success, coming together as IGT-UK Group for the first time on our superb shared stand. The show has provided an ideal opportunity to showcase our great games, great platforms and great systems and interact with customers across multiple distribution channels. One of the highlights of the show has been the simultaneous launch of ‘Monty’s Millions’ games for customers in the land-based and remote gaming sectors. The increased awareness that results from the distribution of a game across multiple channels will bring benefits to all parties.”

Decisions, decisions..

To conclude, both shows were professional and well attended. The EAG welcomed 4,903 trade visitors, 40% from overseas, who gathered to view the latest innovations in the amusement and soft gaming sectors from over 120 exhibiting companies.  The IGE, which incorporates the ATEI, ICE and Betting Show attracted 15,403 dedicated IGE buyers (16,692 in 2009) plus a cross-over figure from ATEI of 3,012 – giving a total audience of 18,415 drawn from 120 sovereign states, 70 of which are outside Europe.

Neil Chinn, President of BACTA, which organised EAG said, “We are delighted for the Industry at the success of EAG Expo.  Despite the economic pressures we have received positive feedback from all our exhibitors, all stating the “right quality audience with genuine interest“.  The visitors have also been vocal in their delight to have an amusement show, focusing entirely on their needs.  The fact that we have attracted so many to our first event is outstanding and bodes well for the future as the show becomes more established.”

Julian Graves, Managing Director of IGE organising company Clarion Gaming, enthused: “We are delighted at having delivered the most complete gaming and amusements event in the world and one which has been met with such positive reviews from exhibitors and visitors representing all aspects of the international gaming, wagering and amusements sectors. At no other event in the world would you find representatives with such diverse backgrounds and from such a cross-section of countries.”

It seems likely that the trends observed this year will get stronger at next year’s show. For those involved in pure amusements, it would be foolish to dismiss the EAG. For those whose product is gaming-related, the IGE might remain the better choice. For those servicing both industries – our sympathies – it could be a difficult choice or an expensive compromise…

Show-stoppers

LAI Games, the leading manufacturer of coin-operated amusement games, had a great response to their new games line-up at the EAG Show. The new Snapshot fun photo kiosk and Little Masterpiece touch-screen colouring game for kids were a huge success and a number of major orders were taken at the show. LAI Games also released its updated version of Textminator featuring a stunning new remote networked tournament mode - taking Textminator to another level with online prizes and exciting regional and national competitions.

LAI Games’ CEO Alan Freimuth announced, “The response to Snapshot was phenomenal – it really stirred the creative juices of visitors to the show who took over 1,000 photos (see a selection at www.thefotos.net ).  This is a great multi-function kiosk for any venue and is a must for any operator’s game mix.

Casinos looking to capitalise on the opportunities of 2010 will embrace Server Based Gaming according to BetStone (www.betstone.com), the pioneer in Server Based Gaming (SBG).

 At this year’s IGE, Server Based Gaming was widely acknowledged as a key tool for Casinos for 2010. BetStone has seen a massive increase in enquiries about its Server Based Gaming platform following the announcement of its 100 games milestone. Casino operators in this space consulted with BetStone to find out how this technology would address the need to maintain growth in the current climate, evolving legislation in differing markets and intense competition.

Gamestec, the UK’s leading pay to play machine operator, has been showcasing a range of innovative new products at this year’s IGE Gamestec, alongside sister companies Bell-Fruit Group and Mazooma, exhibited a range of exclusive products at its hospitality suite the Chelsea Rooms, which offered a bird’s eye view of the show.

 Products being showcased included machine management tool i-assist; TabBOXX, a pull-tab lottery machine supporting national UK charities such as the Roy Castle Lung Foundation; Socialite, an electronic in venue advertising system and a range of new gaming terminals for the pub and LBO markets.

 Peter Davies, Business Development Director at Gamestec, said: “The event provided a fantastic opportunity for us to meet our customers and discuss how our products and services can increase income from their business. We were also able to showcase the investments we have made in sourcing and developing a range of industry leading products.”

The whole team of the Suzo Happ was kept very busy at the IGE. With so much on offer this is no wonder.

The new Gaming catalogue received its international debut at the IGE, covering over 220 pages in total. Suzo Happ has the widest selection of toppers in the whole of the industry. And this selection has grown even further with the introduction of such toppers such as the new RGB Polygon and Pill Toppers.

Suzo Happ also brought the strong product range of Talaris (formerly De La Rue) to the gaming world. The banknote and coin counting and sorting machines were a real highlight to many a stand visitor.

In addition, The Arcade III Changer now has its own bigger brother! The Maxi III Changer includes the dedicated product features with a larger coin capacity.

Erik Wijma, Suzo Happ’s European Sales Director, summed up the positive mood from the IGE exhibition. “It was a pleasure to greet our stand visitors at the IGE. The feedback was very encouraging. Suzo Happ offers such a vast range of components and solutions. Our customers know that we have so much experience in the component market that we will support them to choose the correct products that match their needs.” (image Talaris here)

During the IGE, Magic Dreams’ booth received an exceptional attendance. All the visitors had the possibility to see, touch, hear and of course feel the innovation that Magic Dreams brought at the London exhibition.

James Illingworth – MD International Sales Director - confirmed the positive view that the Italian company has for the future “We received very enthusiastic feedback from both current and new customers on our  new products, they were extremely impressed from the quality level we reached thanks to our new X10 platform. IGE has provided us with a very busy start to the year.”

REAC, the Dutch supplier of management systems for the arcade industry, launched magicPAY at IGE 2010! Initially developed for the Dutch arcade market, magicPAY is a smart card cashless module that uses RFID contactless technology.  magicPAY is an add-on module to REAC’s successful Management System which is operated by the majority of the arcades in The Netherlands.

Expecting the long-awaited change in the legislation for payment methods in Dutch arcades, the introduction of a RFID contactless cashless module means a quantum leap for the arcade industry where up-to-date players are still playing with coins as not even bill acceptors were legalized by the Dutch government. With magicPAY, REAC is more than prepared for the upcoming change in legislation and is able to offer their customers a sophisticated yet user-friendly system. The magicPAY card can be issued as an anonymous or a personalized card depending on the requirements of the arcade operators.

John Brennan, Commercial Director at Brent Sales/Namco Europe, was in buoyant mood following the market’s enthusiastic response to the company’s massive offering of games shown at the EAG show in London. Reflecting on the exhibition, he said: “We had more new products than ever before and received more support from customers than ever before across the full spectrum of Fun With Prize (FWP) games and Adrenalin Based Content (ABC).”

Brent/Namco’s experiences at EAG, where it showed a cluster of AAA grade video, refuted the sometimes-held view that the genre is in decline. In Tank! Tank! Tank!, Terminator Salvation and Deadstorm Pirates, Brent has what many people believe to be the three lead products of the year, an assertion which was not lost on EAG visitors. “The facts are that if you provide a great product at a fair price operators will purchase safe in the knowledge that their customers will play,” explained Brennan. “Products talk and there’s no room whatsoever for second best in the modern family amusements business.”

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