At ICE Barcelona last month, Aristocrat Interactive took center stage with its latest products for the online space, part of a massive booth display held alongside Aristocrat’s traditional land-based portfolio. As the group’s new business unit for iGaming, Aristocrat Interactive showcased its new content, highlighted synergies between the group’s teams and connected with attendees.
In an exclusive interview with Yogonet, held on the second day of the show, Joshua Morris, Senior Vice President of Content & Aggregation at Aristocrat Interactive, reflects on the company’s presence at the event, discussing its latest offerings, strategic insights, and the evolving demands of the online sector.
What are your impressions of the event’s relocation to Barcelona?
I live in London, so for me, it was quite convenient to have the show there. But it’s actually very nice to have a change of location. Barcelona is a wonderful city in so many ways. The setup of the show is also great; the stands look fantastic. They’ve done a good job with the move. I’m a fan already.
What are those approaching the stand most interested in learning about?
In a way, this showcase is further proof of Aristocrat’s evolution. Those approaching the stand see that we are now exhibiting as Aristocrat Interactive, following the business unit’s launch last year.
We have a huge range of products on the stand this time, from land-based gaming on the one side, and iGaming with content and aggregation on the other. We’ve also got sports… There’s a much broader spectrum of products that we have within the group now.
My responsibility is the development of online content and bringing it to market — and we have a load of really good games. A lot of Aristocrat content has proven successful. Mo Mummy is a really big game that’s due to launch, but we also have others like Bao Zhu, which has generated a lot of excitement.
But there’s also momentum around other brands and titles. Double Bubble is another popular game, which has been growing really nicely in the UK. We have a very varied showcase to cover the different requirements of our customers.
What does this first ICE showcase as Aristocrat Interactive mean for you and the team?
Last year was a period marked by growth for Aristocrat in the interactive space. The NeoGames acquisition was closed in 2024, and before that, we acquired Roxor Gaming. These moves were part of a “build and buy” strategy that has proven successful. Rebranding all of these units under Aristocrat Interactive was the next logical step for the company.
What the rebranding allows us to do is double down on the strength of our business, which is our core brand and the game brands that exist within Aristocrat. Of course, that rebranding process made 2024 a busy year; integrations always require a lot to do and plenty of planning ahead.
But now that the rebranding is complete, it’s really exciting to see everything on the stand coming together. Aristocrat’s gone from having nothing in the iGaming sector to now boasting a really broad spectrum of products and businesses within the segment.
Can you tell us a bit more about the synergies between Aristocrat Interactive and its longstanding presence in the land-based sector?
Both the land-based and iGaming units work closely, particularly around content creation. We’re focusing very hard on bringing the casino floor experience online. When you look at the North American market, including the US and Canada markets, the profile of our land-based brands is really high.
When we launched, we brought some selected classic games from land-based to the online market, such as Buffalo and Buffalo Gold Collection. We are now stepping into a broader range of content from the floor: Mo Mummy, Bao Zhu, Cash Express, and all of the brands that sit within those portfolios of content.
There are some really good synergies and opportunities when pairing both units. What we learned in the last year is that these brands do resonate in the online market as well, so we are very focused on bringing as much connection between the different channels as we possibly can.
With Aristocrat Interactive, you can grab an established brand like Buffalo and take it online, replicating the floor experience. But what new opportunities does this online jump open? In which ways can these brands be reinvented for online gaming?
Some features are very popular online but don’t necessarily exist in land-based gaming. A lot of the content that is successful online takes features that work on the casino floor but then introduces twists, creating mash-ups of different concepts. It’s about giving that familiar content a modern spin.
But in the digital market, there are also new opportunities in terms of what you can build around the games, especially when it comes to loyalty, be it through free spins, bonuses, or other engagement activities. It is a different environment — since you are on somebody’s mobile phone, you are always with them.
There is a closer connection with the online player, starting with the KYC, which gives you a good understanding of who they are. As a result, you can tailor your offering for them a bit more specifically than you could at a casino.
In a casino, the player may have a relationship with the casino through a loyalty scheme, with comps provided around that. But digitally, you have new opportunities, for example, to expand jackpots in different ways. Must-hit-by jackpots, for instance, or we have this daily pregame that we use very effectively.
It’s all about understanding players and what they want. Because of the nature of online gaming, we have a lot of rich information about players that allows us to tailor our offerings to create something more entertaining and relevant to them.
ICE marks the start of a new year for the company. What should we expect from Aristocrat Interactive in 2025?
We are still in the early stages of our expansion into the online market, going live with a lot of customers. Personally, what I’m seeing is a lot of growth in terms of new partner relationships and distribution at a product level.
As I said earlier, we are also very excited about some of the brands that we are now introducing online because they are really popular in the land-based sector. That’s the case with Mo Mummy and Bao Zhu, which I mentioned before, but we also have Firecrackers, Jackpot Carnivals… Our roadmap is more exciting than it’s ever been.
What fills me with enthusiasm is that product development is driven by this very rich pipeline of great content. We’re working increasingly closely between the land-based and iGaming studios to make sure we understand the relationship with the player and that our products evolve to meet the market’s demands. It’s a really exciting year ahead.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2025/02/04/94080–34rebranding-to-aristocrat-interactive-allowed-us-to-double-down-on-the-strength-of-our-business-34
