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U.S. slot makers are reportedly cutting their prices and focusing on fewer, better-performing titles in an effort to persuade operators to shake off the downturn blues and update their equipment again.
Despite stabilising revenues for many U.S. casinos, historically huge customers for slots, they are still postponing upgrade plans, according to Robin Farley, an industry analyst with UBS.
“It’s not an expansion market any more. It’s a replacement market,” Orrin Edidin, President of technology vendor WMS Gaming, was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying. “This is a tough sell because they’re looking at our offers and saying, ‘Where’s the value-add that compels me to need to buy this now, or can I wait?’”
One possible strategy for suppliers, said Edidin, is to attempt to focus venue managements’ minds on the value that the latest slots technology can bring. WMS, for example, claims that using its software to customise games can generate up to 35 percent more betting volume, compared with slots that don’t have that enhancement.
Another big supplier, International Game Technology (IGT), is concentrating on a smaller range of more popular machines, and trying to create games that will attract players hitherto largely uninterested in slots, such as younger consumers and middle-aged men.
Arcade games are being discounted in the U.S. too. Betson, for example, is currently offering the 32-inch-screen version of its Terminator Salvation two-player shooter for lease at rates as low as $55 per week, with 90 days before any payment is due and a minimum lease period of only 18 months.
It’s a bitter change in the commercial climate for manufacturers that were long used to frequent upgrades by their customers. For gaming operators, however, it may be good news if it forces more innovation among the creators of slots – as well as lower prices, of course.
