The previous “Covid shutdown period, has given us the time to refocus and get a lot of games approved for the Macau market,” said David Punter, operations manager, sales service and marketing for Australia, New Zealand and Asia Pacific at Konami Australia Pty Ltd.
He was speaking to GGRAsia at the recent MGS Entertainment Show, a casino industry trade exhibition and conference in Macau.
“We’re launching our new cabinet, which is called Dimension 27 and Dimension 49. And then we have the huge cabinet, which is the [Dimension] 75C [pictured], which has been extremely popular at the show,” Mr Punter explained.
The Dimension 75C can host any of the Konami games displayed at the show. The cabinet’s size also means two players can share the action, via the comfort of a double seat supplied with the product.
“We’ve seen in Australia and Asia, occupancy’s high” for the Dimension 75C, and “performance is high” also for casino operators, stated Mr Punter.
“The best way we’ve set it up in previous casinos across Australia and in the U.S. is in a ‘three’… like a triangle,” in terms of machine configuration on the gaming floor. That gives players “space and privacy on each of the corners,” explained the executive.
In terms of the impact of the Dimension 75C cabinet, the operations manager observed it was a “wow product… people just want to experience it.”
Regarding game content for Asia Pacific, Konami says it has six games approved for “All Aboard”, a multi-game linked progressive slot machine product.
The latter is “one of our flagship products,” and “we’re just starting to get orders for those to go out into the Macau market”.
“It’s already been approved for other jurisdictions: Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia. It’s one of the top performing games not only out of the Konami range, but also on the [operator] floors.”
‘Bull Blitz’, ‘Fortune Mint’
To support the already-strong offer provided by All Aboard, the Konami development team have come up with a new concept, called “Bull Blitz”, stated Mr Punter.
“It’s the same repeat win feature,” but has “been enhanced” with ‘Golden Bull’ symbols, which the executive said have consumer appeal in terms of “royal” and “rich” associations.
“Any time you land a bull or two bulls [symbols], it repeats three times, whereas All Aboard would repeat once,” he explained.
The products can function as standalone games as well as linked ones, notes the manager.
“Some venues like standalone… a lot like chasing a larger jackpot,” he said. The latter industry trend “has been growing in the Macau market for many years,” noted Mr Punter. “People have been wanting to have larger amounts of machines chasing large jackpots.”
Regarding Macau’s machine-replacement market, if operators “want to sign something new, different and proven, then Konami has got some options for them,” stated the Konami representative.
Referring to his management experience in Macau and the Asia-Pacific region, Mr Punter stated: “Having lived here and having worked here on a product side, I’m very focused on making sure we get the bet configurations right, the jackpots right, the graphics right on the art.”
Another Konami game approved and coming into the Macau market is “Fortune Mint”.
“It’s a ‘collect wins’ and ‘repeat wins’ -style multiplier game,” rather than a ‘hold and spin’ game, said Mr Punter. “This has actually been in the marketplace in the Philippines and in Malaysia’s [Resorts World] Genting.” He described it as already one of the supplier’s “top-performing games”.
Fortune Mint has “a lot more features in the base game” than some products, and “a lot more RTP [return to player percentage] in the base game”.
All Aboard, Bull Blitz and Fortune Mint are “all approved,” for Macau, “and then we’ve got another new series coming behind this, which is called “Prize Strike”, stated Mr Punter.
