Download Vs Flash: there's no competition

When I joined the gaming industry in early 2003 there was a notion that in order to offer customers the best content you needed to get them to download casino software before they could play. The download casino offered richer graphics, a superior user interface and a better range of games. Browser based Flash games on the other hand took a back seat; they were the inferior cousin to the great download, a nice to have and non-essential part of the mix for operators.

Times have changed. In 2011, browser based content is now very much in the ascendancy. Gone are the days when slow internet access prohibits games developers from creating good quality graphics through a browser, and no longer is greater choice of games for customers an attribute exclusive to a download client.

The market has changed significantly in the last five years and the idea that an operator would sign an exclusive deal with a single content provider is becoming increasingly rare. As a result, the download client, with its restricted range of games produced by a single games developer and a lack of content flexibility, has become less important. While it is still an important part of an operator’s game mix, I would argue ‘the download’ now takes second position on the casino grid firmly behind browser based content.

Game developers are now forced to do battle in an open market place and fight to gain a share of voice on operators’ websites by producing a regular stream of innovative content. This pressure to produce more entertaining content, to let game popularity rather than commercial agreements dictate the layout of a website, is a trend which significantly benefits gaming companies and, more importantly, our customers.

Casino gamers now enjoy a wider range of high quality content than they have ever had in the past. New games such as IGT’s Star Trek and Ash Gaming’s Captain Cannon’s Circus of Cash are coming out solely in Flash and operators like Playtech and Microgaming, who once pushed all content through their download offerings first, are now bringing browser based content and download content to market simultaneously.

In reality giving customers a choice is key. Be that a choice of games or a choice of the method in which games are delivered. As operators we simply need to find the most convenient way to get our games in front of customers. This may be Flash, it may be in a download client, it may also be via a mobile device or TV, but the most important thing is to make it as easy as possible for a customer to play.