My Initial Thoughts From ICEi 2010

This year’s International Gaming Expo (IGE), incorporating ICEi, is over and I’m back home. My reflections from the expo are mixed.

Most positive: I was impressed by Net Entertainment and  Betsoft’s games. The quality in their games is really good. It is especially interesting to see that Betsoft incorporate their controls as a part of the game.

Most negative: The Innovative Showcase (it was a new addition addition to IGE 2010 that gave exhibitors the opportunity to present to IGE visitors) was a major dissapointment! Many of the presenters didn’t even show up for their presentations, and the quality of the rest weren’t that good. If I was given the chance to talk infront of people in the gaming industry then I would do my best to give an entertaining talk that the attendees would remember.

The lack of new innovative products was also disappointing, and also that many products are so very similar. For instance bingo software looks almost identical no matter who is the software provider.

It was apparent that live casino products were more visible this year, for instance Sportingbet just signed a live casino deal with Evolution Gaming.

I was very surprised to see (or not see) that no one had any portal products. I believe that the portals will be extremely important really soon. Why not focus on the player experience from right when a player logs in and personalize the player experience!

Gaming Portals of the Future Workshop

This spring I’ll run a 1-day workshop about the next generation gaming portals. It will be very hands on giving you ideas and new ways to think when it comes to your gaming portal.

The agenda will include the following topics:

• User Experience & Agile development

• Prototyping the User Experience

• Conversion/Retention

• Personalisation: Gaming Portal 2.0

• Social Media: Gaming Portal 3.0

The workshop will take place in 4 different locations, Malta, Gibraltar, London and Stockholm. There will be 10-20 available seats for each location. I’m working on the dates right now, so send me and e-mail if you’d like to be informed when everything is ready. Mail me at staffan.schroder@inuse.se and I’ll add you to my mailing list.

/Staffan