A year ago, no one knew what to expect and how to adapt to a new reality full of restrictions due to the pandemic danger. One could expect some industries to be hurt more than the others, some to be destroyed and some to thrive. Sapar Karyagdyyev, CEO at Gamingtec, an international IT company, tells us about what happened in the media entertainment sector.
In spring 2020, most of the gaming activities were cancelled and live game providers had to close their studios. Even though everyone knew it was just for a while, it was not clear how long it would actually take. Some specialists predicted that people might put aside live competitions and switch for cybersports instead. However, any online alternatives will probably never be able to compensate for what real sport gives to a fan. Offline matches and competitions are far more engaging, attractive, they are full of unexpected twists and real emotions of people that share with you the exciting vibe of the revenue. That is why, according to Sapar Karyagdyyev, there were not any massive changes in cybersports: for those who are really into the industry, it was clear that once the global sports calendar start filling up again, people return to offline events.
Sapar Karyagdyyev notes that the real challenge that the iGaming segment and the media entertainment industry at whole face now is oversupplying of content. Such leaders of the e-commerce market as Netflix or Amazon have already managed to partially solve this problem. While iGaming niche only makes the first steps towards it. For example, Gamingtec platform works with over 50 suppliers and offers more than 5,000 games. The company cannot limit its portfolio in order to stay competitive on the market, but at the same time, it is impossible to show all the 5,000 games to a client at once.
‘The future lies in predictive analysis and AI,’ Sapar Karyagdyyev states. ‘We are also testing AI-powered suggestion mechanisms for sportsbook users, and the initial results are very encouraging.’
Going for technologies that allow to indicate preferences of a client and provide them with a customized offer is a key to solving this problem.
On the other hand, Sapar Karyagdyyev notes that technical challenges appear all the time, regardless of any circumstances, whether it be a pandemic or any other. Working on solving the challenges, a company improves its service and products, so after all, the challenges are not that bad. This way, for instance, Gamingtec managed to allow its clients to get reports much faster than they might expect and get all the new features implemented on the platform right when they become available without any additional ado.
In other words, it is important for any company to focus on a client and their needs in order to stay competitive in the market. Providing a unique design, monitoring possible issues and solving them on time, providing support to the clients—all the aspects of client-oriented work are essential.
That is why, according to Sapar Karyagdyyev, it is better for a newcomer to the media entertainment industry to choose a powerful start with a turnkey solution. Such choice allows a company to use its own gaming license and benefit from the platform’s portfolio of games and paying methods. And once the company wants to scale up or move the other direction, the turnkey format allows doing it without depending much on the platform’s limits.