Novomatic's director of communications, David Orrick, predicted just before the opening of IGE that the show would follow a similar pattern to Las Vegas' G2E.
"In Vegas the visitor numbers were down, but the quality was up and I think it will be the same story here," he said. "And if you see the people you need to see, then the job is done."
He added: "Times are tough in all industries, not just ours, but Novomatic will be placed at the forefront of recovery. Times are challenging but in such times there are also opportunities."
Provisional results from 2008 show that Novomatic sold over 100,000 gaming machines last year. "The focus for the coming year will be further progress in South America and Asia," continued Orrick.
"We have made real progress in these regions and we will build on that in the coming year. As far as this show is concerned, we have lots of new product."
Marketing manager Max Lindenberg added: "We turned over €2.5bn in 2008. We have the advantage of being both a manufacturer and operator - that is our main strength. The products we have here have been designed for the future of the industry."
Taking centre stage among the new product was the Novo Unity II multigame platform. "The first Novo Unity was a successful product," said Lindenberg, "but this takes things to a new level."
It delivers total flexibility, allowing operators to make available any number and combination of Novomatic live, automated and virtual casino multiplayer games on individual electronic player terminals.
"Games can be changed quickly at the touch of a finger," said Lindenberg. "And there is no limit to the number of terminals that can be deployed. It is a great platform for future developments. Customers will be able to equip a whole casino with Novo Unity II."
Novomatic was also giving a debut to a new electronic gaming table that offers both poker and roulette, with the operator being able to swap the games in just a few seconds.
