Faster Route to a Wider Online Gaming Market

Faster Route to a Wider Online Gaming Market
By Mr Konstantin Zubarev, CEO, Connective Games LLC
www.ConnectiveGames.com
I want to start off this article by posing a dilemma that I believe is being faced by those working at software development companies, not only in the field of online gaming, but in other sectors as well.
Just how many times do you think we really need to reinvent the wheel?
Here at Connective Games we have been working in the online gaming sphere for many years, with the company itself having been around now for mroe than three years.
Much of this time has been spent with our heads down, busy trying and thankfully succeeding to build the necessary backend to provide our company with the tools to take on the larger gaming platform providers.
It has taken us a long time to build up our bank of knowledge.
Perhaps too long.
Now don’t get me wrong; we are extremely pleased with the products that we know we have built. We have market-proven poker and casino products, and have recently added backgammon, rummy and are now looking at building mahjong and Chinese poker.
Our clients have been very supportive; they have given us the time to develop a successful and competitive poker and casino offering.
But like many other small- and medium-sized companies, we only have limited resources in terms of people, time and, of course, money.
These pressures force companies to be creative. In our case, it has led us to conclude that there must be another way; that although competition is very much at the heart of our business, there is also a need for cooperation between developers.
We have gone it alone in the past, and we know how tough that route can be.
We now have poker and casino platforms that are now tried and tested, and a success.
But we don’t have many other areas of online gaming, such as, say, live casino or badugi.
We know that others do. For instance, we are currently talking to a mobile gaming developer at the moment called mGame Solutions from Hungary. They have a very interesting mobile poker application. We want to add mobile poker to our platform. If we can work with mGame, we can offer them a faster route to a wider market than they might achieve on their own, and we do not spend thousands of working hours attempting to develop – pretty much – the exact same product.
Instead, we will simply add what has already been developed to our existing platform and start offering it to an existing roster of clients.
Both our firms will offer the package to the market, and we will both be able to share in the profits.
Of course, it’s not just the product. You will all be aware of the peripheral work that needs to be done to get a new idea to market. These are the other elements involved that do not need to be replicated each and every time a new game is developed, such as the reporting, the player management, the affiliate system, the agents, the accounting, the bonus management, plus the infrastructure needed for games and tournaments. I could go on.
It is clearly not necessary for each development company to jump through every one of these hoops from scratch.
The common ground has already been covered. Without these basics, a developer can concentrate on what really counts; that is bringing to market a game that is truly unique.
We want to work together with similarly nimble, smaller companies, who like us are fighting for space in a sector dominated by some very large, very dominant names, but who have the creative development talent to take them on.
This call for cooperation isn’t simply a defensive move, aimed at attempting to protect ourselves from the onslaught of the big beasts of the online gaming jungle.
Because many of our own clients are similarly small or medium-sized businesses – and just like us, they need and appreciate flexibility when it comes to their relationships with their suppliers.
The large providers struggle with one area in particular. Flexibility. They have a standard approach, often developed to deal with their biggest – and most profitable – clients.
You know who you are, and you’re clients will recognize this.
We don’t have a standard approach. We consider the needs of each and every operator who approaches us, and we tailor the approach as necessary.
It is so simple. Clients select the products that they like; I don’t mind how many different games of poker and casino we offer our clients. The best ones will thrive.
Now I fully understand that my arguments will be countered by others.
It is natural. No matter which industry you work in, the owners and founders will always believe they are the smartest guys in the room. They will want to achieve success under their own steam, using only their own resources.
But often, no matter how determined you are and how much you believe you have an edge, you will sometimes find that you simply don’t have the resources to succeed. Doing it on your own is tough; many do not succeed.
We are at the beginning of the path towards cooperation. We think our ideas can inject new blood into the online gaming sector. A lot of companies we meet have exceptionally good ideas, but they are still struggling to present those ideas to the clients. We believe we can help them to help themselves.
Together we can build a unique platform, a true network of connected and connective games that offers the best to all our clients. Collaboration and cooperation truly are the way forwards.