Software developer Microgaming has experienced its share of success in its 12-year history, developing the first online casino in 1994, and, in the ensuing years, becoming an effective fixture in the I-gaming industry. IGN caught up with Microgaming executives to discuss the secrets behind the company's longevity, the status of its current endeavors, and what direction it intends to take. CEO Roger Raatgever and Marketing Director Gavin Bisdee discussed the "rocket science" fueling the Microgaming machine.
IGN: Being a pioneer in the online gaming software development community, what continues to make Microgaming a successful company?
Roger Raatgever: In my estimation, a whole host of things: the scalability of our software; experience; innovation; reputation; the breadth and strength of our operator base. That pretty much encapsulates it all.
Gavin Bisdee: The big thing people are probably talking about is our aggressive rollout schedule this year in research and development. I think no one can really touch that. We're on target for the release of 60 new games this year. I think, without a doubt, one has to move with the market; and the players are ever more demanding, as they require better and better playing experiences. I think that's a real market leading position at the moment; I think that's the big thing people are looking at.
IGN: Microgaming announced recently that it has added 16 casino and poker operations to its portfolio this year, nine of which have been released to date. When do the rest of the operations plan to go live?
RR: They'll be going live in the next few months. A lot of the guys are live and haven't wanted to put press releases out. Again, I'm not close on which ones have not wanted a press release yet.
GB: What tends to happen is that they often like to run it for two weeks before issuing releases. Most operators prefer to do that. You could safely say that some releases are pending.
RR: Actually, there's one due for release on Monday (Oct. 9) . . .
GB: It's just a matter of making sure that we time them correctly because we can't have them all going out at the same time either.
IGN: What is in store for Microgaming? In which direction do you intend to steer the company?
RR: More of the same: aggressive rollout of new games and aggressive product releases like poker. We've released mahjong; we've released bingo. Really, there's no rocket science involved. It's obviously about execution, and making sure that we lead the pack. It's very much about making sure our operators are happy, and making sure that we have the pockets deep enough and the skills and resources strong enough to make sure that we can develop and deliver.
GB: I'm sure the other direction would be localization.
RR: Obviously, localization, products for new markets, geographical segmentation . . . there's a whole host of things we're looking at. But a lot of that comes back to the same basics, and that's having the skills and resources to execute. As I said, there's no real rocket science in this industry. It's about making sure that we have the ability to execute and deliver, to come up with bright ideas in a market that is pretty new as it is, and pretty nascent. We need to make sure we have the ability to pull through and make those things happen very quickly.
IGN: What do you see in store for the industry?
RR: My view is that we haven't even scratched the surface. I mean, if you look at figures, in the U.S. alone, which, according to research, accounts for 49 percent of revenue in this industry, only 4 percent gamble online. That figure doubled last year, from 2 percent to 4 percent. Of a $12 billion dollar industry, you're looking at half of that coming out of the U.S. Now, even in the U.S. alone, with regard to land-based casinos, 207 million people visited a land-based casino last year. The average was 338 million visits, which equates to six visits per person. So, there's still a huge market even in the markets we're in that we haven't touched. Plus, you start moving into Europe, where I think 120 million people have Internet service, of which I think broadband is growing at an amazing rate. And you've got 24 million players within Europe already. So, there are still huge gaps in the market, huge niches to be picked up, and new products to be found. I mean, who's to say that the next big product isn't bingo or mahjong? Where is it? Where's it sitting? There are so many opportunities and exciting developments that are happening on an almost monthly basis.
Our first progressive game went out in 1998, which isn't long ago. Since then, we've paid out over $212 million. So, the progressives do very well for us. So, what's to say there's not another niche product or product that we all know about that needs a bit of fine tuning or feature enrichment that will take us to the next bar? You just don't know. There's still so much we need to do and so much we need to conquer. And, once again it comes down to making it happen and executing.
IGN: What do you think about the general shakeup currently rattling the I-gaming industry?
RR: As a software provider, we're not an operator, so I'd prefer not to comment on that.