“Our key contacts are international, so ICE is a key point for Odobo”

What were your expectations for ICE? Have you met them?
ICE, as the largest gaming industry expo in Europe, provides a unique opportunity to demonstrate your business to the industry’s leading executives at a single event.  For Odobo, our strategy for ICE this year was to showcase the developers who are building creative new HTML5 games within the Odobo developer program and to invite the leading gaming operators to meet these studios, review their games portfolios, and discover how, via the Odobo Marketplace, they can procure an ever-increasing number of games from these developers. 

Our stand this year featured 12 participating game development studios, including: Applejack Gaming, Trimark, Rabcat, and The Games Co; showcasing 68 games currently in various stages of development on the Odobo platform.  For gaming operators, Odobo provides a novel new “app store” model for content procurement from our developer partners. Our booth at ICE offered demonstrations of our entire suite of products to enable today’s leading igaming operators to license and manage content from our developers.

The industry has reacted positively to our innovative business model and we’ve seen rapid growth throughout 2013. ICE delivered on it’s potential to showcase how far we’ve come over the past year and to further develop our relationships with new and existing partners.

What products did you exhibit?
The Odobo product suite is comprised of a number of technologies and services to enable game developers to produce high-quality HTML5 device-interoperable games. It then assists them to market and distribute their games to industry-leading operators. Developers can now take an active role in driving revenue from their games. At ICE we were showcasing the various components of the program including the Odobo Games Development Kit (GDK), the Odobo Marketplace (the B2B content “app store”), and Odobo Play (our B2C games discovery portal and marketing channel).

However, perhaps the most exciting new products exhibited at the Odobo stand were the games being produced by developers in our program. Using the latest HTML5 technologies, the games built using the Odobo framework are optimised for desktop, tablet and mobile as well as being designed for cross browser compatibility. These innovative games demonstrated the in-depth consideration our team gives to the end-to-end development process.  By making it possible for a wider range of games development studios to participate in content development for regulated real-money gambling we are seeing more creative and innovative game concepts coming to market such as Castle Builder by Rabcat, Poker Drop by Granville Games or Monster Mash by The Games Co.  The feedback from gaming operators we met at ICE was very positive with many optimistic that Odobo may enable new gaming innovation that was not possible previously.

Did you launch any new products in London? What are the main benefits/ features of the products you presented?
At ICE this year, Odobo launched its latest games pipeline, featuring 68 games as concepts or games already in development. We had a number of our developer partners on hand at the stand to showcase their games, providing them with a physical platform to market their games to operators. We were also previewing our new native application for Odobo Play.  The Odobo Play App allows game developers to promote their games and refer players to download and play their games within the Odobo Play native app container.  The native app brings all the benefits of a native iOS application experience to HTML5 games. It improves the handling of game asset loading and delivering HTML5 games in a proprietary frameless browser window to replicate the play experience of native game applications.  Like Odobo Play on the web, the native app then allows players to try the games for real-money to choose their preferred gaming operator and play the game with the operator of their choice from within the native app player.  This is in Beta release but received some very positive feedback from both game developers and gaming operators.  Watch for a mid 2014 release.

What do you feel next year holds for the industry?
Over the coming year we expect HTML5 to secure its place as the front-running technology for the development of real-money games. The utilisation of such technologies means that games become truly device interoperable, which, dictated by the shift in the way players are consuming online entertainment, is something we know the market is demanding. We also believe that this will soon extend to desktop, so that HTML5 will emerge as the default technology for games; providing the benefits of full multi-channel play from a single game build.

Why is it important for your company to exhibit in London?
The show may be based in London but the value of this event is the concentration of major industry players within the confines of ExCel. This simplifies the meeting process, reduces travel time and therefore makes building and cementing business opportunities a more efficient process. Our key contacts are international, so this is a key point for Odobo.

How is the company positioned in Europe?
Odobo is the developer program for real-money gaming. We’re based in Europe but our platform provides international exposure for the games produced using our bespoke Game Development Kit (GDK). We have a distinct and unique model that, to date, is the only one of its kind to level the playing field for all development studios and, via our marketplace, provide a proven distribution channel for the games they produce.

What are your main / biggest markets?
Currently our largest market is Europe and the UK, as these are currently the most mature markets for regulated online gambling.  We are however very focussed on the emerging, newly regulated, markets such as the US and are actively developing distribution partnerships with commercial and lottery operators where these opportunities exist.

What are your future plans?
We believe we have a strong proposition, the meetings we’ve held and the feedback we’ve gathered over the past year has been overwhelmingly positive. bet365 was our first live gaming operator in 2013 and we have experienced greater interest from both game developers and gaming operators since we achieved that important partnership milestone. We now aim to continue growing the cutting-edge games content being produced on our platform via our GDK and to add more operators, a number of whom we will be in a position to announce soon.

What are your predictions for the gaming market in 2014?
Primarily, we anticipate the continued increase in demand for mobile content. That means ensuring games have persistent game play and are optimised for play via mobile devices. Furthermore, as stated above, we believe 2014 will be the year that HTML5 becomes the predominant games development technology for desktop play – thereby providing a truly multi-channel play experience across desktop, tablets, and mobiles.  Players won’t need to decide between different games because of the device they are using.  HTML5 allows for players to enjoy games across various devices and Odobo is leading in providing the tools and technology to deliver on this vision.

What are your clients’ main concerns nowadays?
We’ve had overwhelmingly positive feedback but in general, the primary concern raised by our operator partners is how they can secure the delivery of more high-quality games, more quickly. This is an issue that we’re well placed to resolve, in some cases delivering games from concept to certification within 10 weeks. While it’s clearly a challenge for our clients that needs to be met, it’s an exciting opportunity for Odobo.