Hooking players with the right slot game license can be tricky, as diverse tastes means it can be difficult to get the right property. IGT, having scooped up three of the biggest game show names in the world, have given themselves a great chance to appeal to a bigger audience. VP of Global Communications Phil O’Shaughnessy joined our Becky Liggero Fontana at G2E Vegas to talk game shows.
IGT was proud to show off their latest license and machine, Jeopardy! on the G2E Vegas floor, and they had a special guest to help show it off, the second winningest Jeopardy player ever, James Holzhauer. “These 11 foot tall cabinets are a big hit with players,” O’Shaughnessy noted. “Started out with the Wheel of Fortune franchise and now expanding into more game shows. But Jeopardy James, he had an amazing run on the Jeopardy! show, and he happens to live in Las Vegas. So it was a perfect opportunity for us to have him here in our booth at G2E, and he’ll challenge whoever dares. And definitely some pretty tough questions. I took a sneak peek and saw some of the things back there. I wish anyone luck at beating Jeopardy James.”
IGT is betting big on this style of property, and O’Shaughnessy pointed out how TV game shows can be very appealing. “A theme like a Jeopardy!, a Wheel of Fortune, a Price is Right, it’s not about just slapping a licensed theme onto a slot machine,” he said. “It’s about really doing research and making sure there are iconic elements within those games that would resonate with slot players. When you think of a game show, the players already know the game, they know the ins and outs of it, they know how to advance in the game.”
These licenses have automatic appeal to Americans who grew up watching these types of shows, but how does IGT make them appeal to an international audience, Liggero Fontana wondered? “So, whereas here you might see a game like this, in London you might see a multi-game configuration where a player would come up and chose from a menu of 8 games in one bit of hardware,” he replied. “It benefits IGT in the sense that we have studios all over the world. We have a Manchester studio, we have a studio in Asia, we have a studio in Australia, studios right here in Nevada. We develop market attuned content that resonates with our players, the customers’ players, in regions around the world. It’s great to be able to match that content to player tastes, but also tie it into research to make sure what we’re doing is backed by extensive player research, so when we do go to market our customers have confidence.”
