G2E Rocks 2022 in Las Vegas

A packed Global Gaming Expo show floor

By: Victor H Royer

ore than 25,000 gaming industry

Mprofessionals gathered at the Venetian Expo Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada, this past October, crushing the attendance for 2021, and signaling a post-pandemic robust return for legalized gaming in the U.S. and worldwide.

Attendance records weren’t the only positive and upbeat happenings at this annual gaming industry convention, compiled and organized by Reed Expo. A general sentiment of optimism was seen and felt, and on display throughout the four days of events, meetings, and presentations, including the three days of open access to the main showroom floor.

Despite ongoing economic stresses on the U.S. and world economies, and related unrest in Europe, and other parts of the world, economic optimism among gaming industry professionals, OEMs, operators and suppliers, and attendees was nearly universal. This general excitement was a true and real feeling – to which I can personally attest as someone who has been attending such events for the past 38 years, in one form or another, as the industry has evolved and changed over the decades.

“It is the visible synergy among OEMs, suppliers, and operators, and the overall cross-platform cooperation among them, which today allows us

and others to jointly provide the best products and services, not only to the industry but especially to the end-user – the casino players and visitors who so enjoy these great games,” said Bob Parente, executive vice president and chief business development officer for Light & Wonder, one of the world’s leading suppliers of games, systems and product-innovation services to the gaming industry.

This sentiment was echoed by Conrad Walsh, director of marketing for Light & Wonder. “For the past three years, and certainly over the near-two-year shutdown of the gaming industry during the height of the pandemic, the pace of gaming innovation hasn’t slowed,” said Walsh. “We have continued to work with our game innovators and designers, remotely and now again jointly, to prepare, and now showcase these amazing new games and innovations.”

“For G2E 2022, we showcased entertainment and technology established in the winning experience: celebration, team spirit, and high reward,” said Tashina Lazcano, director of marketing and communications at Konami Gaming Inc. The reason is because guests are tapping into more fun DIMENSION content,” continued Lazcano, “and more SYNKROS systems tech focused on creating, facilitating, and reinforcing winning moments.

At the Aristocrat booth, Jon Hanlin, senior executive vice president of commercial strategy and analytics for Aristocrat, the world’s foremost manufacturer of casino games and content, shared a complementary vision. “At Aristocrat, we have a significant history, and presence, in gaming innovation and excellence,” said Hanlin. “This has provided our company, and our game designers, with the means to deliver unparalleled excellence in new-product innovation, and enhancements to our existing and widely popular series of games, game titles, libraries, and crossplatform synergistic innovations.”

“We believe our newest product introductions at G2E 2022 demonstrated the success we’re achieving in this reinvestment effort to deliver highly differentiated gaming experiences that help our casino partners grow revenue by engaging players at increasingly higher levels,” said Caitlin Harte, Director of Product Management at Everi. “Our focus is aimed at fully supporting our current markets with an everexpanding library of compelling game themes and new cabinets, including the launch of Dynasty Vue™, which customers experienced first-hand at G2E 2022.”

At Aruze Gaming USA, Lesley Hodges, Aruze’s recently appointed senior director of marketing, was very upbeat and excited about Aruze’s Activ-Play gaming portfolio. “We see ourselves as leaders in the industry,” said Hodges, “not only while we pay homage to the gaming industry’s classics, including our suite of traditional cabinets, but because we offer a unique gaming-gambling hybrid experience through our Activ-Play™ solutions. Activ-Play™ blends arcade-style fun with the randomized excitement of a gambling machine. Through this portfolio, we see ourselves positioned uniquely in the market, offering something that no one else is providing.”

The G2E gaming convention is a worldwide industry gaming showcase, which provides opportunities to every attendee and gaming company to demonstrate their innovations to a global audience. While we here in America are traditionally focused on domestic gaming and casinos – such as those in Las Vegas and Reno in Nevada, and Atlantic City in New Jersey, as well as tribal casinos in many other states, there are also significant advances in gaming in other parts of the world.

This is particularly notable in South America, where Zitro Games – based in Spain – is the leading manufacturer, and supplier of slot machines and casino games. “While Zitro is a well-established and popular gaming brand in South America and elsewhere in the world,” said Derik Mooberry, CEO of Zitro Games USA, “we are currently working with BMM to license our games in Nevada, and then in all of the major markets in the United States. We had strong success in most of the markets we entered and it was this success that gave us the confidence to enter the US as a meaningful OEM.” Based on the range of great games that I saw at the Zitro Booth at G2E, this confidence is well-placed. “Our most popular titles have been the 88 Link family of games — Lucky Charms and Wild Duels — which have shown exceptional performance in many markets, including the U.S.,” added Mooberry.

During G2E 2022, I had the opportunity to visit all of the major displays at the Show, and to speak directly with many of the industry’s actively-influencing leaders. Several of these Interviews are appearing in this issue, and in following issues of Casino Life Magazine.

And now I’d like to share with you some highlights from each of these companies.

Light and Wonder

The name LIGHT & WONDER was born out of a new purpose, related to L&W’s great products and amazing employees – known as “creators” – charged with the task of serving L&W’s players and customers. L&W points out that they are here to build new worlds of play that delight players and they create content, hardware, and systems that connect iconic titles across any place or channel. By turning games into expansive entertainment, L&W keeps thrilling players with great characters and stories.

Chief among the new offerings from L&W at G2E 2022 was their exciting new cabinet: The COSMIC™, and their established and reimagined Mural cabinet. This included the reimagined versions of some of L&W’s biggest proprietary brands onto this new hardware – and new experiences for players. Titles such as ULTIMATE FIRE LINK® Explosion and Quick Hits Explosion, are both expanding to L&W’s large format Mural cabinet. L&W also extended ULTIMATE FIRE LINK (Cash Falls) to the new COSMIC cabinet.

Other offerings on display at the L&W Booth at G2E 2022 included chart-topping content like GOLDFISH FEEDING TIME™, Light & Wonder’s latest crossplatform hit; HUFF N’ MORE PUFF slot machine (number-one Top Core Game); KASCADA™ Dual Screen slot cabinet – the number-one Multi-Screen Upright for three months running – LANDMARK ™ 7000 Wheel cabinet – the number-one Mechanical Reel Hardware for two months running) – and the COIN COMBO™ game series, which is topping the i-gaming charts across the U.S.

ULTIMATE FIRE LINK® Explosion game from Light & Wonder The Tarzan Link™ game from Aristocrat Lucky’s Wild Inferno™ games from Aristocrat

The Aristocrat Booth at G2E 2022

Aristocrat

When COVID hit, Aristocrat didn’t slow down. “In fact, we doubled down,” says Jon Hanlin, Aristocrat’s senior vice president of commercial strategy and analytics, “and we continued to invest in innovation, particularly within our D&D, so that we could ensure we were in the best position possible to continue providing player-appealing games for our customers. That ongoing investment has led us to this G2E, where we showcased 100 percent brand-new, for-sale product offerings and about 70 percent brand-new, lease product. This speaks to our commitment to continually change the game by creating a diverse and powerful portfolio of entertaining products,” continued Hanlin, “that resonate with a broad spectrum of customers.”

Among these innovative games and concepts from Aristocrat were the new Class III lease options on all-new games including Tarzan Link™, Lightning Buffalo Link™, and Cash Express Mega Line™, each of which made its world premiere at G2E.

And among the for-sale titles, these included 100 percent allnew content with industry-leading portfolio depth and breadth. Titles shown were Buffalo Strike™, Wonder 4™ Collection for Neptune Single, Cashman Double Bingo™ and Lucky’s Wild Inferno™.

The Konami booth at G2E 2022

Konami

At G2E 2022, Konami’s All Aboard has ranked as a top-grossing parent game since 2021 and for 21 months straight. Konami’s DIMENSION 49 has ranked the industry’s number-one, top-performing core portrait/portrait slant cabinet for 10 months. Konami’s cashless and cardless technology, proven successful through Konami’s SYNKROS casinomanagement system, and SYNK31, a comprehensive new system for anti-money-laundering (AML)/Title 31 compliance, were also examples of striking success for Konami at this year’s show.

And at G2E 2022 Konami also showcased entertainment and technology rooted in the winning experience: celebration, team spirit and high reward. With Konami, guests can tap into more fun in Konami’s DIMENSION content, and more SYNKROS systems tech focused on creating, facilitating and reinforcing winning moments.

As the gaming business begins to return to prepandemic levels, Konami’s growth is shown through 50 percent year-over-year growth in net revenue. During this time, Konami has successfully entered the historical horse racing (HHR) market with its first HHR machines. Konami is also expanding into Class II and New York Lottery VLT, which were displayed for the first time at G2E 2022.

All Aboard “Gold Express” and “Mighty Panda” games on the DIMENSION 49J platform from Konami The stunning Everi Booth at G2E 2022

Everi Games

At G2E 2022 Everi demonstrated the success they achieved in their reinvestment efforts to deliver highly differentiated gaming experiences, which help their casino partners grow revenue by engaging players at increasingly higher levels. Everi’s focus is aimed at fully supporting their current markets with an everexpanding library of compelling game themes and new cabinets, including the launch of Dynasty Vue™, which customers experienced firsthand at G2E 2022.

More than 10 new themes were featured on Everi’s Empire Dynasty Vue™ Cabinets from Flex™ cabinet, including Everi Games, featuring Combo Cash and the Wild the Press Your Luck™ Wheel Series games Series and Fu Blossom™ Series, which are both available on Everi’s premium TournEvent® Winners Circle™ bank of cabinets, part of TournEvent Everiway™.

These marquee banks feature synchronized content with enhanced sign packages that showcase theme-specific content. The Treasure Gates™ Series, Fortune Teller™ Series, Potion Explosion™ Series and

Banner™ Series, with persistent state features available in Class II and Class III, were also presented on Empire Flex™. Based on the iconic animated TV show, The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends™ was presented on the Skyline Revolve™ three-reel mechanical cabinet, while Everi’s The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle high-performing & Friends™ Games from Everi banked product Flex Fusion™ showcased several original video titles, including two follow-on games for the high energy tornado-themed

Cashnado™ game, Storm Surge™ and Super Nova™.

Lift Off™, with Locomotion™ and Starboard™ base themes, also debuted on Everi’s Flex Fusion™ cabinet.

The amazing Roll to Win EGT Craps game from Aruze

Aruze

At G2E 2022 Aruze offered a unique gaminggambling hybrid experience through their Activ-Play™ solutions. Activ-Play™ blends arcade-style fun with the randomized excitement of a gambling machine. Through this portfolio, Aruze sees itself positioned uniquely in the market, offering something that no one else is providing.

A perfect example of this is the unique Go Go Claw Game, which was this year’s GGA Product Innovation of the Year. This unique game continues to redefine what a slot machine looks like. In this unexpected blend of arcade- and casino-style play, a physical claw is used to attempt to place one of the prize balls into the collection bin, where a value-varied prize is unveiled.

Aruze also presented unique new games: Rock-PaperScissors and Bomb Collector. Rock-Paper-Scissors Instant Win brings a schoolyard favorite to the casino floor, with enchanting music and bright lights featured across the Aruze’s Muso Curve, 55-inch touchscreen. With bright visuals, charming music, and chances for free games and bet multipliers, Bomb Collector is sure to be a blast for gamers and gamblers.

The Go Go Claw Gold Bars Cash Grab game from Aruze Rock Paper Scissors and Bomb Collector games from Aruze

Zitro Games

At G2E 2022 the Zitro Booth highlighted their GLARE product line. The GLARE line up of cabinets is new to markets around the world and features four unique configurations.

The Fusion Glare is a dual-screen cabinet designed to take advantage of locations where sightlines need to be optimized. The Allure Glare is Zitro’s

triple-screen option, where many of the games offer linked-top-box bonus experiences. The Illusion Glare debuted in a new form factor at G2E, as an upgraded, 49-inch, curved, J-screen option. Among Zitro’s Premium offering was the Altius Glare cabinet, which features a 27-inch, base-game screen with a 55-inch, ultra-4K resolution monitor on top to provide best-inclass graphics. In this way, Zitro delivers an impressively immersive gaming experiences and a diverse cabinet offering to meet the demands of casino operators, thus optimizing and diversifying the casino slot floor.

Among other new titles on display at the Zitro Booth were Mighty Hammer, a four-level, multi-game featured on Allure Glare, with four different game themes and three unique bonus links. Also, on display was Mega King, available for both the Allure and Fusion Glare cabinets. With this slot title, the more you bet, the bigger the jackpot you get. Mega King also includes an amazing “ENERGY BOOST” feature, which allows players access to the Bonus Jackpot.

The Spectacular “Seven Chests” bank of video games featured on the premium Altius Glare cabinet from Zitro

More from G2E 2022 appears among several Interviews elsewhere in this issue.

Zitro 88 Link Series games

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