Abhinay, what were your views and impressions of the recent G2E Las Vegas expo?

G2E 2023 was once again a truly global event. At this year’s expo we were able to spend a lot of time with industry suppliers and customers, not just within the US, but from international markets. We met with visitors from the Philippines to London to Hong Kong and Bulgaria, among many others. I think this brought back the charm of G2E. It was also a very busy show this year, both from a visitor and exhibitor standpoint.

Additionally, on the expo floor we saw manufacturers prioritising hardware and software from the perspective of the player. The player has always been at the core of this industry and both on the exhibition and casino floors in Las Vegas, we saw that products had become bigger, brighter and bolder. Payment systems, cashless solutions, digital wallets, and slot integration within the omnichannel experience was front and centre at this year’s show. So, I’d say my key takeaway from G2E 2023 was of an industry that is once again pushing the boundaries of innovation.

Having taken the pulse of the US market whilst at G2E, what’s your view of the North American market right now? How is it performing and how is Quixant capitalising on growth state side?

Market movement has been very interesting. From both keynotes and speaking to industry experts at the show, there’s been a shift in macroeconomic trends in the global gaming industry, and the numbers have been staggering. Maintaining the momentum from last year, we have seen how operators benefited from COVID demand and improved business strategies.

As demand normalisation takes effect in core markets, we see that capital expenditure for new projects has become increasingly competitive, which means demand is being picked up in alternate markets. We see a lot of customers looking to enter new markets, for example, route markets in the US. We’ve also seen growth in existing markets like LatAm and Europe. As a whole, I’d say global demand is picking up the pace.

At Quixant, we’ve been at the centre of discussions with our customers, working closely to speed onboarding into new markets, providing support through our embedded Software Suite solutions, which are integrated seamlessly into our latest hardware platforms. We have a very strong pipeline of customers who we are actively supporting to bring their product to new markets – which are powered by Quixant hardware platforms.

Quixant launched the QMAX 3 at ICE, and you’ve just launched the new IQON 2 at G2E. Where do these new products fit into the Quixant lineup, and what was the reaction at G2E?

The Quixant roadmap has been designed and developed with a focus on customers, markets, new technology and innovation. We are constantly looking to provide the best value and service to our customers. We ensure that this offer includes a comprehensive mix of both AMD and Intel solutions and now have fully integrated Intel solutions throughout our QMAX range of products. As OEMs seek to deliver bigger and brighter products, with more 4K screens than ever before, there is a huge demand for graphical performance. The QMAX 3 features a dGPU option, positioning our customers for further success, removing any barriers to game development.

At G2E we launched our latest platform – the IQON 2 – which is based on the latest 12th generation of the Intel platform, with powerful integrated graphics. The IQON 2 builds on the success of its predecessor, the IQON 1, and provides our customers with a market-leading, next generation platform. The IQON 2 is sleek. It’s powerful and easily compatible. It provides both a smooth migration and, for new customers, it provides a technology upgrade with faster speeds of storage, with NVMe solutions, and enhanced features that include configurable options for higher performance.

The IQON 2 series is a fanless design, which is a great low maintenance solution. We have listened to feedback from customers, and this low maintenance option is perfect for markets in which maintenance can be a challenge. At G2E we spoke to customers who have sampled this product, and they’re very excited about the performance boost IQON 2 delivers. In terms of the enhanced features and Software Suite, which are available across all of our hardware platforms, we are looking forward to customers integrating this new generation and are excited to see the products they take to market.

Quixant has been integrating Intel products across your product roadmap. Where along that journey is Quixant and how important is this for the partners you work with?

Quixant has always been a high value, high technology provider. We offer both AMD and Intel solutions, but as aforementioned, with the demand for Intel growing, specifically its new integrated graphics architecture providing a major performance uplift, we have now released a product line focused on Intel.

We continue to support our AMD line of products on the V1000 series, and in addition now offer the Intel line of products on the new 11th and 12th generations, which add more options for our customers to choose from and provides the best value. The QMAX 3 has been launched with Intel 11th generation, while our IQON 2 leverages Intel 12th generation. We are actively working on our IQ range offering, which will be our high performing cost effective solution which comes in a compact size – stay tuned for information on the launch of this product. In answer to your question, we’re actively engaged with Intel as strategic partners, and together we plan to design and deliver some of the best products for the gaming industry and provide greater value to our customers.

On the Quixant booth at G2E, I heard the term “focusing on the bread and butter.” What is your bread and butter and why was there so much emphasis on it at this year’s event?

Quixant takes great pride in being the best value technology provider and partner for our customers in the gaming industry. What we was at G2E was tier one manufacturers focusing on the core product, their hardware, which is the aspect of the product that attracts players. However, what keeps the player playing is the game. And that’s what we have focused upon.

Quixant is a one-stop shop for all gaming requirements focused on hardware and turnkey support. It all starts with Quixant’s orange box, our range of gaming PCs. This is our bread and butter. This is what powers the end solutions. So as you walk the casino floor, play the myriad of games, it’s this orange box that’s powering the products that casino customers are interacting with. When we talk about our ‘bread and butter’ we are referring to our core products, which is the IQ, IQON, and QMAX range of products, and our strategy with both Intel and AMD is to support this range, which is at the centre of all our solutions.

As our customer pipeline grows and our core product adoption increases, there is more and more demand from our customers for the kind of games they would like to bring to market. Those games require greater performance, which places emphasis on our core bread and butter product in terms of delivery and support, as this increases the success for our customers entering these markets.

Are there any new markets Quixant is actively targeting and focusing upon into this year and next?

We are seeing a lot of interest and growth from customers in LatAm and European markets. Like most, we are carefully watching the regulatory space in Brazil. Support for our customers in these markets is crucial and so we are working closely with clients in these markets, to make sure that our core products are aligned and configurable for these markets. I also think there are a lot of regulatory changes that are happening, not only within the US, but in markets like Puerto Rico, Mexico and Brazil. We see a lot of change in European markets too, such as Spain, Finland, and others. Quixant is part of those conversations with our customers, and we see that a number of these markets are going to be the drivers of momentum into 2024.

Abhinay, what are your expectations and predictions for gaming trends into 2024 and beyond?

Referencing back to the macroeconomic situation in the US, we are seeing demand starting to normalise towards 2024. I do not think we will see the same kind of COVID-influenced demand we saw in previous years, but we are definitely seeing demand from adjacent markets in both LatAm and Europe and expect these to open up by mid to late 2024 and into 2025. At G2E, the conversation was dominated by US markets moving into a soft slowdown. We heard that players are spending a little less in traditional venue-based markets, but that’s the reason why alternate route markets have become really appealing to a lot of our customers. It’s also the reason why several tier ones are now entering redemption markets like Georgia, or looking into HHR markets. So, we expect these alternate markets to start gaining momentum over the course of 2024, and anticipate they will fuel further growth into 2025.