Primmer takes on the new role immediately. He will report directly to Aristocrat CEO and managing director Trevor Croker.
This represents Primmer’s most senior role with Aristocrat since joining the group in August 2014. Primmer was most recently chief product officer for Aristocrat’s land-based business, serving in the position for four years.
Prior to this, he spent time as executive vice-president and senior vice-president of global products and insights. He also had a spell as senior director of portfolio planning and strategy for the Americas at Aristocrat.
Before joining the business, Primmer worked as domestic product marketing manager at Ainsworth Game Technology. Other roles include CEO of United Technology Services and sales executive for Shuffle Master.
CEO welcomes “proven gaming experience” to executive team
Speaking about the appointment, CEO Croker says he is delighted to welcome Primmer to the company’s executive team.
“Over the past decade, Matt has made a strong contribution to building and extending Aristocrat’s global product leadership, fostering our outstanding creative and technical talent, championing D&D (design and development) and placing customer needs at the centre of our product strategy,” Croker said.
“Matt’s appointment brings additional, proven gaming experience to the executive team. In his new role Matt will help us maintain an enterprise view of product strategy as our business grows to encompass a broader range of product verticals, while also ensuring the most effective allocation of D&D investment.”
Revenue rises 13% at Aristocrat in 2023
The appointment comes after Aristocrat posted a 13.0% rise in revenue for its 2023 financial year. Published in November, the results show revenue for the year amounted to AU$6.30bn (£3.23bn/€3.78bn/US$4.09bn).
Figures reveal widespread success in the gaming and technology business, with EBITDA and certain measurements of profitability rising.
For the group, net profit after tax and before amortisation of acquired intangibles was 46.7% higher at $1.54bn. In addition, normalised EBITDA amounted to $2.11bn, up 33.2% from the previous year.
At the time, Croker highlighted the impact of acquisitions. These include Roxor Gaming in January 2023, which led to the wider development of the Anaxi online arm.
Aristocrat is also closing in on the acquisition of NeoGames, with a $1.20bn deal struck in May. This is set to complete before the end of H1 in calendar 2024.
With this, Croker hinted at more acquisitions in 2024 as Aristocrat continues to seek out new growth opportunities.
Original article: https://igamingbusiness.com/people/people-moves/aristocrat-leisure-names-matthew-primmer-product-chief/
