The head of slot supplier Aruze Gaming Americas says the company has not been distracted or negatively impacted by ongoing legal battles involving its parent company, Universal Entertainment Corp., and company founder Kazuo Okada.
In an interview with GGRAsia at the G2E Asia trade show, Eric Persson, president and COO of Aruze, said the intellectual property lawsuits between Okada and Aruze have not affected the company’s product development, noting of its sic bo game, “It is unquestionably the most popular sic bo product in Asia… and our roulette has done well for over a decade. What we are really focused on is refreshing those games.
“The biggest thing I think people will take from our show stand is… there’s a lot of confidence in our product,” he said. “We are growing aggressively really all over the globe. Our sales in Europe have doubled year-over-year. In North America we are up 80 percent for the last nine months, and are up over 50 percent in the last 12 months.”
Persson said patent litigation initiated against Aruze Gaming America by Universal, the conglomerate founded by Okada which ousted him as chairman last year, has not negatively affected customer confidence in Aruze products.
“I think people have high confidence in Aruze’s games,” he said.
