Exclusive interview with Digitain’s Head of International Offices, Tigran Sharafyan
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hat will be the main novelties that the company will exhibit this year at G2E Asia, to be held November 9-11 at the Venetian Macao Cotai Expo?
With sportsbook being our key product for the Asian market, we will be exhibiting an even more comprehensive and flexible product at G2E this year compared to the last time we were here. Not only do we have a significant growth in product coverage and market diversity, but also this time we will be showcasing our localized mobile version providing a better player experience, quite an important accomplishment for a market with 70% + mobile users.
Considering the current pandemic scenario, which has been going on for a year and a half, what is your expectation of this new edition of G2E? What is Digitain’s balance sheet?
My personal view is that G2E will be highly popular with record attendance this year. After more than 18 months with no trade shows, no networking, industry people really will want to meet each other again under the same roof. Of course, it has still been possible to discuss business remotely, but Asia is all about networking and relationships, and these kinds of in-person events have a great impact in terms of maintaining those relationships and forming new ones. I feel very positive about the outlook for G2E Asia and look forward to our participation. In terms of the impact of Covid 19 on business, I’m happy to say Digitain had a record year for new business integrations, despite the challenging conditions.
What do you think have been the main changes that the industry has undergone due to the pandemic? What have been the pros and cons?
Firstly, the pandemic resulted in some gaming verticals, such as Esports and Virtual Sports, having a significant growth in volume when few live sports events were taking place. But things started to balance again as sports came back, however, this depends on the market. eSports, even after the return of live events, is in a very healthy place and can only grow further, as a new customer demographic emerges. The pandemic really challenged the igaming industry to become more innovative in terms of what it offers to keep the players engaged and entertained and that can only be positive for the future.
Another important point is that industry companies started to trust the concept of remote work more than before, proving that people can work from home and remain productive. Digitain managed to organize the remote work of over 1,700 employees in less than 48 hours and assure uninterrupted service to our partners over a period of 1 year, quite a challenging task for a company this big.
What are the main markets Digitain is targeting in 2021 and 2022 to continue growing?
Latin America, Asia, and Africa will be areas where we will continue to look for new partners in this upcoming year. We also expect to see continued growth in eastern Europe. We are now in the process of forming local commercial teams in those new target regions which will help us in terms of increasing our brand awareness and local networks.
What can you tell us about Digitain’s participation in GAT Expo?
The main impression we got from GAT was that the event really brought happiness back to the industry, especially LatAm-based businesses, as people eventually had a chance to meet again and discuss potential opportunities face-to-face after such a long pause. GAT was very productive for Digitain with a major growth of interest in our Sportsbook and our new Fast Games products, which are proving very popular in that region. We also had a chance to discuss new product developments in the pipeline which will hopefully result in new partnerships for Digitain across the Latam market.