Editorial
let creotivity reign in gomes
With today's games selling at record prices, smart
operators are picking and buying their games much
more cautiously , than ever before.
What are they looking for? Reliability, to be lure. But
there are other factors involved: Play appeal, appear-
ance and the ability to generate income for more than
two months.
Unfortunately, it seems that many games sit on the
market just because some manufacturer decided it was
time to put out a product or because some manufacturer
wanted to cash in on another manufacturer's concept.
We don't mean to offend, but it seems there are too
many "losers" in the games industry today. Too many
lackluster games that take in lackluster earnings. Don't
get us wrong--the past year has produced some games
that went beyond their makers' and· owners' wildest
expectations.
But we think dynamite games need not be hit or miss
propositions. With some degree of creativity, new
game concepts and designs could bring new attention,
interest and players. There need to be more games with
topical names. We might even suggest controversial
names. At any rate, titles, playlields, colors, overall
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concepts that will excite the operator buying them as
much as they will excite the person who can't resist
putting his quarter in the slot.
Creativity should also spread to the marketing of new
games. Why are so many manufacturers content to
produce a game, send it to their distributors and forget
it. More manufacturers need to explore the tournament
avenue, the fun-blown promotional campaign, up-to-
date marketing techniques. True, your game is
exciting. You're excited to produce it. But what about
exciting that operator and that player?
We are willing to bet that many operators would
prefer to see fewer, but better quality games come from
our manufacturers. Of course, the ideal would be to
have more and better games. Creative games and
creative concepts in marketing them could only result in
a much healthier economic climate for the industry.
Manufacturers could sell more games, distributors
would get more customers and operators would be a lot
happier having great games taking in consistent
earnings rather than so-so games taking in piddling
earnings.