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Specificity is Key
CryptoLogic’s move to focus on its casino vertical is no gamble.
According to Justin Thouin, CryptoLogic’s VP of Product Management and Business Development, the future of software development lies in specificity. To what degree the company has learned this lesson remains open to debate, but the decision to move its poker vertical over to GTech subsidiary Boss Media, has raised some eyebrows.
So why do this now? Why do this at all? Why give your poker business to a competitor?
For CryptoLogic, the reality was all too clear; its poker business was a burden to an otherwise profitable gaming operation, losing an average of $15 million a year. Add that to the destabilising economic environment in which we are all suffering and you begin to see the necessity of the decision.
Yet the burden wasn’t solely financial. CryptoLogic has been fairly open in admitting that poker has never really been its strength or its focus, and its lack of expertise was now costing the company a notable amount of money.
Clearly, its expertise lay elsewhere and it is here, in its casino vertical where the company will now focus its future efforts.
In offloading its poker vertical to rival Boss Media (GTech), CryptoLogic has made a bold decision and one that arguably has the potential to open the brand to vulnerability. However, it has loaned out a major part of its business to a rival and yet has managed to do so without devaluing its own brand. How? Well, it has demonstrated its unmoving faith in its flagship model, the casino, but more importantly, it has understood that in order to dominate in certain markets operators must be specific to them – companies cannot have the resources or ability to attain blanket dominance of all gaming sectors.
CryptoLogic was able to realign itself financially and strategically because of the strength of its casino product, which incorporates a licensing agreement with Marvel. Its roster of branded slots games continues to grow, with the latest releases of Spiderman Revelations and King Kong adding to an impressive stable that also includes Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, Street Fighter II, X-Men and the Fantastic Four.
Its decision to focus its efforts on this sector of business is a clear statement of intent: the casino is CryptoLogic’s territory. It is here where we will see development from CryptoLogic in the future, and although it is not alone in providing branded slots games to the online casino industry, it is determined to be the best at doing so.
It is also extending its reach through new distribution channels, as demonstrated by its new partnership with Orbis Technology which will expose its casino games to operators in the Orbis portfolio.
CryptoLogic CEO, Brian Hadfield explained, “The global Internet gaming market continues to grow rapidly, and that is why CryptoLogic’s strategy includes opening up new channels to market through the world’s leading operators.
“CryptoLogic’s new partnership with Orbis Technology enhances both our position and our optimism as we revitalize our business for growth in 2009 and beyond.”
2009 represents a new start for a company that was admittedly quiet during much of 2008. Yet towards the end of last year, the industry has been made aware that this is a very new CryptoLogic; one that is determined to change its previous and self-confessed ‘stuck in its ways’ industry image into one of dynamism and progression.
CryptoLogic is back at IGE, and many other trade shows as it seeks to reclaim some of the ground it lost on the industry, which many would attribute to the almost nuclear fallout of UIGEA.
Back at the shows and back in the news, 2009 is set to be a progressive year for CryptoLogic.
