News Providing continuity and support in the face of ongoing disruptions Q&A with Abhinay Bhagavatula, Chief Technology Officer at Quixant and Lewis Pek, Editor of G3 magazine Quixant exhibited at the latest G2E show in Las Vegas when many were unable to attend the event – what was your view of the show? Being in the gaming industry for over 15 years now, gaming shows continue to be an exciting part of our business that gives us an opportunity to meet our customers and prospects face-to-face. G2E has always been a coveted gaming event and one of the shows that I most look forward to – especially having missed last year’s exhibition due to the pandemic. Given those challenges, G2E 2021 turned out to be a successful and positive event for Quixant. Attendance was certainly down on previously years, but this was to be expected. What was very positive was the support of the gaming manufacturers who showed their latest products in Las Vegas, which meant we were able to talk to all the key suppliers in the market. What was the focus of customer enquiries on the booth – and what were you specifically able to show in Vegas? We have been working hard to ensure our product reaches our customers. This year, that’s been challenging on many fronts for the gaming industry, especially as the markets opened up to enormous demand for product. Unfortunately, there have been supply chain shortages and shipping delays, which has been affecting the delivery of product to our customers. As a result, G2E enquiries were focused upon fulfilment of deliveries to meet the demands of the market. Another important topic discussed at the show concerned ‘end-of-life.’ A lot of suppliers are currently in the situation [...]

News Gaming technology innovation: How the gaming industry can collaborate to deliver the ultimate player experience By Abhinay Bhagavatula With world economies reopening, we are seeing a gradual return to normalcy across all aspects of life. This is particularly evident in the gaming industry, with venues reopening around the world and experiencing increasing demand from an audience with a pent-up desire to enjoy the thrill of gaming once more. As such, delivering the ultimate player experience is critical to the industry’s successful rebound, and technology has a central role to play. With global supply chain challenges continuing to impact the whole sector, game manufacturers are having to think and operate differently to keep production lines running and effectively meet the growing consumer demand, despite operating on significantly reduced revenues.  The gaming industry has proven time and time again to be resilient and versatile, swiftly and effectively adapting to new challenges and circumstances. This is something we are certain will be true over the coming months, and we are seeing a paradigm shift in gaming technology and innovation. History is always a valuable teacher. As the industry continues to adapt to learnings from the recent months, we believe the following considerations will be central to ensuring the successful recovery of the industry, and paving the way for future gaming excellence.   Standardisation of products across markets to enable cost-effective game development.  The quest to deliver the ultimate player experience has often seen a high level of custom product development across the gaming industry, with game manufacturers developing a range of in-house platforms for different geographies and markets. Developing and managing the lifecycle of these products can however be particularly costly and can prevent investment in future gaming technology and innovation. When the sector was thriving, this way of operating was possible, but with gaming venues at reduced capacity and revenues significantly down, this is a perfect opportunity for the industry to put this practice under the microscope. It raises [...]

News Lessons learned in the wake of a global pandemic While the human cost of the COVID-19 pandemic is a tragedy, there are some important and positive changes which are emerging in how governments and businesses are operating. Never before has major structural reform been achieved so swiftly, nor have cheques for billions of dollars been signed so unreservedly. Booming consumer demand for products incorporating increasingly complex electronic systems and challenges with freight have led to significant supply disruption over recent months, which have profoundly affected almost every industry. Since the beginning of 2021 there have been a steady stream of billion-dollar company announcements warning investors of production delays, postponed launches and impacted profits. The shortages are indiscriminate: in April, even the largest company in history, $2tn Apple Inc, was forced to concede a delay in production by several months for some of its products. This follows similar statements from companies operating in every sector. Those companies operating in the embedded/industrial electronics space have been even more heavily impacted. The capacity constrained semiconductor fabrication plants have prioritised orders destined for the higher volume consumer electronics market over industrial customers. In the wake of such severe economic consequences, governments and corporations have been taking rapid action backed by unprecedented levels of investment in an attempt to address the problem. After President Biden ordered an investigation into the global semiconductor shortages, his administration has proposed a $50bn investment into US domestic semiconductor manufacturing and research. EU countries have pledged investment of up to $145bn into Europe domiciled design and production of semiconductors. Alongside this, Asian fabrication giants such as TSMC are investing billions into capacity expansion. As impressive as the pace and potency of these actions are, in the short-term they will have limited benefit [...]