Zoo to be a player in the bar market
As pub operators look for fresh and exciting games content to bring in a new generation of players, computer games designers themselves are seizing on the sector as a prime arena for expanding their own businesses.
Zoo is one cutting-edge outfit that has started working with Kunick to produce games specifically for pubs.
"It is the changes in that market that have attracted our attention," explained the company's Andy Scrivener.
"Soft consuls are off the ground and the sophisticated ways in which pub operators are segmenting their estates suggested to us that there is a great potential for our games out there.
"The levers to grow the market are quite clear," he continued. "To get soft terminals into more pubs, to get more people playing, to get people to play longer, to get them coming back more often and to make an emotional connection with the pub-goer.
"Games must thrill them or annoy them, anything to get them talking to other people about them.
"There is a stigma attached to machines - they are played by a bloke with no mates. We have got to work to bring women in, to pitch content at the right level.
"We're not giving the same audience a different way of spending 50p."
Zoo is particularly interested in the idea that it can design games, or a series of games, to match the customer profile of a retail brand.
"We are in contact with all the major retailers about games which relate to the consumer base of a brand, about providing a relevant content that stretches a target audience," said Andy.
"Until recently, the problem for us with pubs was that the industry was pretty generic. Now understanding what brands are about opens up an opportunity for us to connect with them."
Content Zoo is working on new games covering football, horse racing, personality tests, puzzles and music - with a link to Q magazine.
"It is important that we deliver new games fast," said Andy. "Cycle times are lengthy in the industry and it can take a year before a new concept has mass distribution, but the world moves too quickly for that. At the moment nine months from concept to launch is not unusual. We want to reduce it to a third of that and we have the right sort of background for doing it.
"That's why internet connectivity is so exciting. There is a criticism that products don't evolve but the internet means games can be updated on a daily basis. You can change football quiz questions, for instance, the day after a World Cup result.
"It is the kind of thing that gets people going. It increases coin-drops per week and generates a second dynamic encouraging the escalation of roll-out programmes. The compound effect could be staggering.
"There may only be 10 per cent playing in pubs now, but it could be 50 per cent. I believe that's realistic."
