Online gaming's future and Bwin: MMOG whizz
Bwin co-chief executive Manfred Bodner's recent forecasts on the future of the industry mark a major change of direction for the Austrian operator, says eGaming Review online editor Jon Parker - but will the rest of the industry follow it into the MMOG wonderland?
INNOVATION, NOT MARKETING will determine the success of egaming companies over the next decade, Bwin co-chief executive Manfred Bodner predicted last week “ and if anyone knows about marketing spending, it’s Bodner.
Speaking on the packed CEO Panel session at the EGR Live egaming conference and exhibition alongside Betfair’s Mark Davies, Ladbrokes’ Ed Andrewes, Mangas’ Nicolas Beraud and Unibet’s Petter Nylander, Bodner argued that the brand-building via major marketing investments that has been behind the growth of some of egaming’s biggest players in the last ten years “ including Bwin – is over.
And with Bwin’s third-quarter EBITDA up 75% on the year before, the audience was paying attention.
Bodner said: “The next 10 to 15 years in this industry will be about innovation. The last ten years have been about big branding and being the industry’s Red Bull, but the next ten will be about being an Apple, and offering consumers something new that revolutionises the market. Media spending will not be the answer.”
The statement is a landmark shift for the influential Austrian operator, whose past derring-do in the marketing world has seemingly paid dividends. Though the merit of some of Bwin’s enormous marketing investments, such as sponsorship of football giants AC Milan and Real Madrid, have been questioned by many onlookers, they were defended by Bodner in an interview with eGaming Review as recently as July last year as necessary “to create the Nikes and Red Bulls of this industry.”
Now, Bodner says, the game has changed. The future as the Bwin chief sees it is in live gaming, which, he argues, has changed the nature of online gambling, “from being a transactional interaction into being an entertainment transaction.”
Combine that potential with the playability and general ‘stickiness’ of massively multi-player online games (MMOG) such as World of Warcraft, he says, and egaming’s future emerges, he continues. And this the reason, presumably, for Bwin acquiring a majority stake in European MMOG publisher United Games in September.
Fellow panellist Ed Andrewes, egaming head at Ladbrokes, agreed that “betting in-play had revolutionised the product” – but, in common with the rest of the panel, ventured no opinion on MMOG.
With roaring financials, the EGR Operator of the Year 2009 trophy and the Power 50 top place for two years running, other operators take note when Bwin makes a prediction. Whether they will follow where it leads is another question.
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