| | |
Konami Closes Australian Office
As part of their restructuring, Konami has now closed its amusement sales office in Australia which sees the departure of Graeme Noble.
Whilst their gaming business in Australia is flourishing, Konami found it difficult to sell their amusement machines in a market that is desperate for software kits, not full machines. With an australian dollar that buys $0.59usd, and high freight costs, the chances of selling dedicated machines such as Mocap Golf, Jurassic Park and Perfect Pool were always going to be slim.
However, the Australian market is starved for fresh products with many operators waiting for good kits to come onto the market. Everyone has cabinets, and there were many opportunities for Konami to make strong sales but for different reasons, kept loosing the chance (for example, many owners still operating Police Trainer and Lost World Cabinets, could upgrade their cabinets with Jurassic Park kits).
The Australian market at times is controlled by agents/distributor egos resulting in bad outcomes for operators. With the arrival of Konami, some of us believed that they could understand the market and provide products suited to local operators. Unfortunately with Konami's closure, the chances of operators seeing well priced and suitable products is low.
We wish Graeme Noble all the best for the future and thanks him for his support over the years.
220
|
|
|
|
