Games Magazine Brasil - What assessment do you make of your company's performance and growth in 2023 overall? Did it meet expectations or exceed them?
Patricia Souto Rial - 2023 has been a positive year at Quixant. After a year of increased demand in 2022 from COVID demand, we are seeing demand normalisation and expenditure for new projects has become increasingly competitive in core markets. This has however created opportunity in alternate markets for our customers, and in turn for Quixant. We have observed a lot of customers looking to enter new markets, for example, route markets in the US. We have also seen growth in existing markets like LatAm and Europe. Overall, I would convey that global demand is building momentum ahead of 2024.
As we planned for 2023, and navigated uncertain waters, we were pleased that our expectations of the year were largely as we anticipated. We have been working closely with our customers to speed their entry into new markets, providing additional support through our embedded Software Suite solutions, which are integrated seamlessly into our latest hardware platforms.
We have a strong pipeline of customers who we are actively supporting to bring their product to new markets – which are all powered by Quixant hardware platforms.
We are positive about what 2024 has in store for the market and Quixant.
What assessment do you make of your company's performance and growth within the Brazilian market in 2023?
The Latin American market is of considerable interest to Quixant, which is positioned to be one of the fastest growing gaming markets, with gross gaming revenues predicted to almost triple in the next two years.
With Brazil poised to be a key driver in this growth, the team at Quixant are keeping a close eye on how the anticipated changes and legislation of sport betting in Brazil unfold, how it would be implemented, and how the legal and tax framework will work.
With the concrete news that the Brazilian Senate passed the bill regulating and establishing taxes for sports betting, it is clear that momentum has built. Whilst we await news on the final stages to pass the bill by the lower house before it can be signed into law, we are keeping a close eye on how this develops.
In the meanwhile, we continue to expand our customer base and increase our market share within the LatAm community. We have been building strong foundations to ensure a solid performance in the region in 2024, including developing key partnerships and operational aspects which are more important than ever in the current environment.
We have some exciting opportunities in the pipeline, and should sports betting be legalised in Brazil, Quixant will be ready to grow in this market, and become a leading provider of gaming technology to the Brazilian market.
Could you list the main achievements or goals accomplished?
2023 has been a productive and successful year for Quixant, and we have been developing our roadmap with a special focus on customers, markets, new technology and real innovation which provide the best value and service to our customers.
We have strived to offer a comprehensive mix of both AMD and Intel solutions and now offer fully integrated Intel solutions. At ICE this year we launched the QMAX 3, our most powerful hardware platform to date which is powered by Intel 11th generation processors and features a dGPU option, allowing customers to deliver the ultimate customer experience.
Like all of our platforms, it meets the requirements of all major global gaming jurisdictions, including GLI-11, and is enhanced by its specialist Software Suite solutions as standard, which are created to optimize game and sports betting kiosk development and delivery, and allow our customers to focus on developing their customer experience without worrying about regulatory requirements.
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. It’s powerful and easily compatibility and provides both a smooth migration and a technology upgrade for existing customers, with faster speeds of storage, NVMe solutions, and enhanced features that include configurable options for higher performance.
We have been heavily investing in the LatAm region to ensure we have the adequate products, supply chain solutions fit for purpose, operational expertise, and the support required to enable success in such a vast and diverse region.
With our existing supply chain solutions, industry expertise and dedicated products specially tailored to the needs of the LatAm markets, we have been investing new solution development, expanding our LatAm focused team with both Portuguese and Spanish speaking members, and developing key partnerships to ensure our products are accessible for the Brazil market. We are pleased to share that in the immediate term, we are set up and ready to meet customer demand, should Brazil legalise sports betting.
With the Quantum and Qinetic gaming cabinet and sports betting kiosk range being successfully deployed in the US market, the natural progression was to develop a strategic partnership to enable Quixant to effectively fulfil the ever-growing demand in EMEA gaming markets. We were pleased to announce our partnership with Elas this year for the exclusive manufacturing of our Quantum and Qinetic solutions to the EMEA market.
Powered by our market leading hardware platforms, the solutions enable customers to outsource with confidence, leveraging the unrivalled benefits of our embedded hardware platforms, and extensive sector specific expertise.
For Quixant, it is all about a true partnership and delivering value. It is our responsibility to make sure our customers get the most out of their Quixant products and collaboration, so they can seamlessly integrate all elements of their gaming cabinet or sports betting terminal or kiosk and ensure enhanced product performance, expedited delivery, cost-efficiencies, and ultimate results. We are proud to be able to support our customers at every stage of the journey, providing specialist gaming and sports betting expertise, so they have everything they need to get ahead of the game.
And finally, offering our products at a competitive price is key, and in 2023 we worked hard to mitigate the cost increases we experienced in recent years as a result of supply chain and product availability issues. As we fast approach 2024, we are pleased to have been able to make the Quixant range deliver even more value for money, and will continue to search for efficiencies to ensure the ultimate value and performance offering for our customers.
In your sector within the industry, what trends or technological advances do you believe will dominate the market in 2024?
After a year of record highs in 2022, the macroeconomic situation in the US is adjusting and we are seeing demand normalise towards 2024. We are not anticipating the same kind of COVID-influenced demand we experienced in previous years, but we anticipate demand from adjacent markets in both LatAm and Europe, which we expect to realise within the second half of 2024 and as we head into 2025.
Supply chain challenges in the past six months have started to normalise, though we are not quite back to pre-pandemic levels. This year we have also seen our customers start to reduce their inventory levels as a result of lead times reducing. The pricing pressure coming out of the Far East is easing, which means that as we go through next year, we hope to see a further normalisation of commercial terms as well.
In general, availability will become less of a difficulty and the focus will shift to making sure we get the right products in the right place, at the right time for our customers. Being able to respond quickly to market demands is crucial. Quixant’s close links to the Far East, through our manufacturing centre in Taiwan, is a powerful competitive advantage as it ensures we are right on the pulse of everything in terms of supply chain and components from China.
At G2E this year, conversation was focused on US markets to slowdown. The consolidated feedback was that players are spending a little less in traditional venue-based markets, which is making alternate route markets become more appealing to many of our customers. It’s the reason why several tier ones are now entering redemption markets like Georgia, or exploring HHR markets. So, we expect these alternatives markets to start gaining momentum over the course of 2024 and anticipate they will fuel further growth into 2025.
On the expo floor at G2E we also 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, more 4k screens, higher performing graphics, and slot integration within the omnichannel experience were at the centre of the stage.
Based on conversations with customers, stakeholders and games warehouses, security and protecting their IP has become an increasing focal point this year. Many are looking for standardised offerings and we are seeing a trend to outsource on this very important element as part of their standard ecosystem.
G2E 2023 was a display of an industry that is once again pushing the boundaries of innovation, and we believe this trend will only build momentum in 2024 and beyond.
What is your general opinion on the regulation of the sports betting and online gaming market that is on the verge of approval in Congress?
We are really pleased to see that the sports betting bill has passed the senate, and note that the online gaming side did not pass at the same time. We are keen to see how the situation evolves, and are preparing to support the industry, should sports betting soon be legalised in Brazil.
What are the main goals/objectives of your company for 2024 within the Brazilian market? And on a global scale?
The outlook for the global gaming and sports betting market in 2024 is positive, and the LatAm market - particularly Brazil – will be a leading force. As such, Quixant’s objectives are to develop and deliver the products, supply chain solutions, operational aspects, expertise, and support required to enable success for the Brazilian market, and on a global scale.
At Quixant we seek to not only support customers in Brazil - and globally - by providing the products they need when they need them, but to establish partnerships that enable strategic decision-making and empower customers to achieve their ultimate results.
So to your question, our goal is to do everything needed to best serve the requirements of the market. That means having suitable teams, structures and a portfolio mix tailored to the market. Equally important and necessary, being proactive and being able to quickly move to meet the needs of the market and enable our customers to be the first to turn up product into the market place.
Source: GMB Exclusive
