Japanese gaming supplier Konami has its eyes on Macau, with the company confident it is now positioned to gain a larger share of the city’s slot machine market over the next 12 months, according to Operations Manager Sales, Marketing and Service ANZ and APAC, David Punter.
Speaking with Inside Asian Gaming at ICE Barcelona this week, Punter revealed that Macau – traditionally a stronghold of regional giants Aristocrat and Light & Wonder – was Konami’s key focus in 2025 with operators potentially open to greater variety on their gaming floors as they update to meet Macau’s Technical Standards 2.0.
Under 2.0, which updates requirements around Program Storage Devices, Hardware, Random Number Generators, Meters, Game Play and Display of Time, operators are required to have 50% of their machines compliant as of 31 December 2024 and 75% by end-2025 before achieving full compliance in 2026.
“The market has gone through that first initial upgrade stage and we feel [operators] might be more susceptible to other manufacturers at the moment,” Punter explained.
“We’ve got a great presence now in other parts of Asia across the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, Vietnam and Korea so we really want to focus on that Macau piece a bit more over the next 12 months.”
It was a little over a year ago now that Konami outlined plans to recalibrate its Asian games offering by developing products specifically designed for the local market.
The results so far have been promising, highlighted by new release titles such as Fortune Mint and Wild Envelopes, with Punter now flagging the possibility of Konami opening a Macau or Manila office.
“I believe that’s where we’re at. We’re starting to feel that we might be number three in the marketplace, so how do we leverage that?” he said.
“We don’t have offices in the region at the moment although we do have great relationships with our customers and distributors and we have brought people on board like Luke Middleton, who is passionate about product for the region and works closely with Goto-san {International Sales Manager Hideo Goto) and with Jen Kay our Senior Marketing Coordinator, so there’s some upside there.
“But I still think we have to be in the market a bit more so maybe setting up an office in Macau or in the Philippines is something we might have to consider and should consider.
“Australia is not a growth market. It’s a core market, but it’s not a growth market, and we’re looking for opportunities for growth wherever we can find them.”
One example of Konami’s improved portfolio, Punter adds, is Prize Strike – a game first displayed in Macau at G2E Asia last June and featuring a 243-ways math model and a “good bet structure” as he puts it.
“We were previously just taking games out of Australia and the US and just dropping them into Asia and I think changing that mindset is where we’ve seen some results,” he explained.
“It’s about more Asian content and tarting to add these game structures that we’re talking about, 243-ways. That takes time – it’s probably 12 months’ worth of work coming to fruition – plus we are bringing more R&D resources back into our business in Sydney. We’ve seen a significant increase in games design, art, and math which we have to grow to support the region. That’s exciting for us.
“We’re seeing the results in Australia so now we want to transfer that to the Asian markets. We’ve said to R&D, ‘To be really successful we’ve got to make games that are fitted for the Asian market, not games that look like they’re for the Asian market’, which I think is what we’ve done that in the past.
“So, we’ve learned a few lessons, but it comes down to resources and where you allocate that resource. We see Asia as a growing market for us.”
Asked if he was pleased with Konami’s progress since adopting its Asian strategy, Punter replied, “If you’re going to put it in a five-step track, I think we’re at step three. I think there is still work that has to be done around our focus on the region, on game content for the region, and working with our agents and distributors to get all those things working together.
“But having spent time there, I’m passionate about getting it right for Konami and I’m excited about the journey we’re on.”
