Young demographics to drive online gaming development
MACAU — Offshore gaming operators should take into account the potential of young customers with Asian gambling demographics skewing younger, gaming operators said here yesterday.
Kfir Kugler, chief executive off icer of European gaming technology provider Ezugi, said that online gaming operators should ride the trend of the growing young population in Asia to haul in more revenue.
He noted that online gaming operators should put some care in packaging games, particularly casual and themed games that are integrated with gaming.
Kevin Li, chief executive off icer of software gaming provider Interplay, said: “From the product level we are facing younger- generation players, especially the millennials, that is why product suppliers should focus on soft games rather than the hard games. Casual games with gambling features are getting more and more popular in Asia.”
“So at one point I have to say that the casual games are overtaking (the rest),” he added, in his remarks at a forum at the Global Gaming Expo Asia yesterday.
He added that some operators are now looking to incorporate augmented and virtual reality technology in their games.
Currently there are 42 licensed offshore gaming operators in the Philippines and are bringing in some P3 million a month in tax revenue. Only foreign individuals based overseas are allowed to play such games.
Offshore gaming operators are also studying the integration gaming with social media platforms.
The speed of the gaming should also be considered — especially for live dealer plays where actual dealers are livestreamed online — as younger users prefer fast-paced games.
“In terms of the evolution the manufacturers are working with live dealers to go faster. Live dealer play is actually slow, and obviously what we are seeing right now is people do get tired of slow play,” said Mr. Kugler.
“But then again when you look at the millennials they want the versions of games which only last 10 seconds,” he said.
“And also the modernization of streaming, and regulations in place and the infrastructure really can be used to make it quicker,” he added.
“So speed is important for operators.” —