Vibra Gaming is a game developer and platform provider with a focus on Latin America. Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it offers localized content for operators who are launching their online initiatives.
They are also a valuable partner for global operators entering the region, having navigated highly regulated European markets for the past 10 years.
iGaming Brazil spoke with Ramiro Atucha, Executive Director of Vibra Gaming, Argentina, with over 20 years of experience in the field.
Check out the exclusive interview.
iGaming Brazil – Apart from the last decade, what evolution have you seen in all these years and what was it like going through the pandemic here in Argentina?
Ramiro Atucha – Over the years, I see that the games industry has evolved, or rather, I think it was directed, in two main paths. On the one hand, we are seeing great growth in the game on the American continent. By this I mean not only consumption, but also the preponderant place that several operators in the world have been giving to the industry in Latin America.
On the other hand, we are experiencing a stagnation of what has to do with the physical part. This is mainly due to the entry of new generations into the game, who bring their own tastes both for the content and the ways to enjoy it, emphasizing everything that is online to the detriment of the physical.
In addition to all this, we are seeing an evolution with regard to regulation in Latin America. This makes it possible to increase the offer, reduce or, in a certain way, limit illegal gambling and allow the State to charge, in order to have more resources when it comes to responding to the needs of citizens and to be able to guarantee that problematic gambling is being dealt with. and worked.
As for the pandemic, I believe it forced the acceleration of the regulation process and the great migration to online gambling. Physical venues could have spearheaded this process of online gaming growth several years ago, but having limited this development, they suddenly found themselves unable to operate comfortably and with the need to finally support and drive online gaming. Therefore, the migration to digital channels has occurred rapidly in the last two years. From now on, it will be organized, ordered and regulations will find their way. In this way we will be able to evolve into a fully developed omnichannel game, to give the player a very complete experience with a great physical offer and at the same time online.
iGaming Brazil – What was it like to participate in ICE this year, did you miss the face-to-face fairs? What benefits does this type of event bring?
Ramiro Atucha – The truth is that we really miss face-to-face meetings. Although the pandemic has barely started, we believed that the zoom connection would be very effective, more agile and without so many travel complications, the reality is that it is incomparable in relation to what is advanced in person. face meeting.
In this sense, we are very happy to be able to meet everyone again. For us it was a very special ICE, especially for me, who have been in the sector for so many years and who had never participated with a booth at this fair. It really completely exceeded our expectations. At first we had some doubts about participating or not, because many of the biggest and most important companies in the field decided not to participate, but in the end it turned out to be a great experience.
It is always good for this type of company to participate as it brings a lot of traffic and allows us to see a wide variety of new products. However, as they were not present, the event turned more to online, there was a greater preponderance of smaller companies with a higher level of entrepreneurship. This resulted in a different event, neither better nor worse, but super novel. For us it was a very busy fair, with many meetings, deals and developments.
iGaming Brazil – You are an online game platform and developer. Do you think that with the end of the pandemic, players will return to face-to-face to the detriment of online?
Ramiro Atucha – I do not agree with the creation of this dichotomy of having a preponderance of the physical game over the online one or vice versa. I think both modalities are two sides of the same coin that must coexist, to give the player an omnichannel offering and, in turn, reach a larger player base.
Those who usually go to physical terminals should be able to access the available online offer, and in turn, if physical operators turn to online, they will find a much larger player base, where middle-aged people are much lower involved. If we add the two offers together, we have the opportunity to cross-sell between the two channels, which not only implies commercial benefits, but also maximizes the user experience.
I believe the pandemic has helped physical operators realize that online is an ally rather than an enemy, and I am confident that the coming years will bring more evolution and progress towards omnichannel.
iGaming Brazil – How does Vibra Gaming see the possibility that the gaming and casino law will be definitively approved in Brazil? Will it be positive for everyone? What opportunities does the company see in this market?
Ramiro Atucha – I always think it’s positive that the game is regulated. Establishing clear operating rules has well-known and proven benefits in many markets: it increases player protection, increases our entertainment medium’s contribution to the communities that host it, and of course decreases and sometimes even eliminates illegal gambling.
For these reasons, I think it’s very positive that a market like Brazil finally establishes a regulation according to its industry. We have been preparing for the Brazilian market for many years, with which we aspire to be very important players there.
iGaming Brazil – What criteria do you adopt for the design and launch of your new products?
Ramiro Atucha – We always try to maintain a balanced portfolio of games, depending on the market we are giving more dominance to at the moment. We understand, and we repeat many times, that Latin America is not a whole. It is a continent with a wide variety of countries, each with its own culture, language and fundamentally with a different history in relation to the game, with which we seek to develop content that fits the regulation and the taste of the Brazilian game. We propose the same in Argentina, Peru, Colombia and the other countries in which we operate.
At the same time, we aspire to be a game developer present in several countries around the world, not exclusively in Latin America. We have extensive experience in regulated games in Europe due to previous projects, with which we know that we can make localized games, designed in Latin America, but at the same time competitive with games on the international market.
iGaming Brazil – How do you see the world of games in the current situation? Is it a time of challenges or opportunities?
Ramiro Atucha – For those who know how to read and interpret the challenges, opportunities are always implicit. You have to work and think to turn any situation that comes up as a challenge into an opportunity. As an example, the pandemic was a major challenge for the entire industry. For those who were prepared to capitalize on online gaming, they saw this as a huge opportunity. However, those who didn’t have a database of their players, no way to contact them, and no platform that offered them the opportunity to continue having fun at home, definitely experienced this as a problem.
Currently, I believe that the biggest “challenge” in the sector is the diversity of regulations corresponding to each market, which are not always compatible and often are very different from each other. While it would be ideal for all jurisdictions to agree to implement a common standard that all providers can meet, it is also true that this can represent an “opportunity” in the technical interpretation of these regulations in order to enable gaming across multiple markets.
iGaming Brazil – What are Vibra Gaming’s plans in terms of marketing or market strategies for LATAM 2022 – 2027?
Ramiro Atucha – We will focus on continuing to maintain our presence in the different events, working side by side with operators, regulators and players to understand precisely what they need, what we can contribute, with eyes and ears open to understand and apply in our developments. particularities of each market.
In turn, it is a priority for us to continue investing in the development of localized content and in specific brands for each of the markets in which we operate. That’s what we did with Scratch-a-lot, where we got content that complies with what Brazilian regulations allow. It is a new instant lottery concept that at first glance looks like a casino product, a traditional slot machine.
However, despite offering a similar experience, what has been done in this development is to give a new approach to the instant lottery, thus opening a new window of opportunity for developers and lottery operators. It’s a highly innovative product that gives us a big advantage in a key market like Brazil. In turn, this is part of the investment we constantly make in research and development.
