What makes a good game?That was a question posed by AGS Senior Vice President of Slot Products Andrew Burke at the AGS GameON conference. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the full answer. He did cite research over the last 18 years that focused on five factors: occupancy, cost-to-cover, hold percentage, spin speed and volatility.“Hold percentage” is one of the most debated factors today, and Burke’s talk didn’t necessarily decide the issue.“There was no doubt that tighter games produced stronger profits,” he said.But it doesn’t last long. As many operators have discovered, tighter games start strong, but then fall off often dropping dramatically. Looser games start slow but continue to grow. The only new factor Burke revealed was the tipping point for the changes in profitability was near the 12-month point in the research, rather than the four-to-six-month mark some have cited in the past.
L to R: Matt Reback- Exec. VP, Andrew Burke, Sr. VP Slot Products, Sigmund Lee, Chief Technology Officer. Three of the key AGS executives responsible for game development.
One factor that many operators may not have noticed is “spin speed.” Burke’s graphs showed a nearly one second increase in spin speed since the year 2000. That may not sound like much, but that’s an increase of almost 20 percent. While that’s a major increase, it’s not one that players have found objectionable. Burke did demonstrate that pushing this index further would be disturbing to players as he showed a clip with games running 50 percent to 60 percent faster.Not good.Another factor we’ve all seen is the increase in “cost-to-cover.” But were you aware that the jump has been almost two and a half times? Citing penny products, Burke said, “We’ve gone from 20 cents in the year 2000 to over 50 cents today.”That statistic, together with tighter holds, have not helped when it comes to “occupancy” or time-on-device.“Occupancy creates energy,” Burke said, “and energy is critical for any hit game.”In his conclusion he said, “there is no perfect recipe, no right answer.”But he did urge operators to strongly consider selecting lower hold percentages. He said all manufacturers must produce games that allow operators to select the holds that fit their individual needs and philosophies. Thus they release games that can be tight or loose. But he said that we “need to consider the advantages of making our game more appealing to our players.”While he may not have the perfect game formula, his AGS team seems to be on a roll recently as their new Orion and Orion slant cabinets are among the top performers across the country. The cabinet is unique with a large border of multiple LED colored lights, but several game themes have also been big hits. And just like the factors above, success is often a mysterious combination of attributes ranging from colors to game mechanics and cabinet to bonus rounds.
