Eduardo Aching reviews Konami's achievements and challenges at ICE Barcelona 2025

To break the ice, we began by asking Eduardo Aching, Vice President  International Gaming Operations at Konami, to describe his experience as an exhibitor at this first edition of ICE in Barcelona and he explained us that the Spanish city “brought new audiences, interest, and energy from markets across the globe. This year for the first time, Konami arrived at ICE with two different exhibit spaces, an iGaming Stand in Hall 2 and a Land-based Gaming Stand in Hall 3, with the goal of giving different customer segments the most convenient access to connect with Konami products and our people. Our Konami team members across both spaces were engaged in customer meetings and product demos all three days, and we experienced a good deal of new connections and walk-up traffic. Being at an entirely new show venue, there were some logistical challenges for us and our customers. But we’ll be taking that feedback and working with show organizers to target for improvement in ICE 2026”. 

What innovations were presented and which were the markets that were most interested in your proposal during the tradeshow?

“K-Pow! Pig is among the big showcase releases of ICE 2025. It is an omni-channel slot series, arriving for casino land-based and online enjoyment this year. An original new linked progressive, K-Pow! Pig is debuting on Konami’s DIMENSION cabinet line, as well as our RGS with HTML5 delivery—compatible across smartphones, tablets, and desktop devices. For our partners with both land-based and online sites, this omni-channel approach is central to reaching today’s casino players with cross-platform gaming opportunities, whenever and wherever they prefer. Another product innovation featured at ICE 2025 is Bingo Frenzy Stampede, which uniquely combines a popular slot credit prize mechanic with a 5-in-a-row bingo feature, giving players the chance to shout “Bingo” many times over in the same game bonus. Bingo Frenzy Stampede stands apart for its high-energy animations and personified bingo dauber, serving as the game’s hero character. This game series is available now, and was featured at ICE on our curved screen DIMENSION 49J slot machine”.

And added “From Asia to North America, from Europe to Latin America, and everywhere in between, all regulated markets we serve were represented at ICE 2025 and dedicated time with the Konami team. We are very appreciative to our customers and partners for the chance to connect at this year’s ICE Barcelona and look forward to working closely in the weeks and months ahead”.    

ICE Barcelona 2025 conferences and trends

What conferences, panels or debates did you find useful or interesting?

“Brazil was an important area of discussion at ICE 2025, and received a dedicated seminar at the event. As a newly regulated market, Brazil holds tremendous opportunity. The establishment of gaming standards, regulations, and licensing in Brazil created a pathway for Konami to participate in the market, and we’re pleased to be operating live today in its regulated iGaming space.  We also believe there is significant opportunity in the legalization of land-based gaming in Brazil, and our goal is to become one of the market’s major providers”.

What were the trends that you believe will mark the near future of the industry?

“The industry is seeing increasing implementation of omni-channel entertainment, inviting guests to engage with games across a mix of online and traditional land-based touchpoints. As a provider of traditional land-based casino games as well as iGaming entertainment, Konami worked with a number of its casino partners in 2024 to facilitate omni-channel opportunities. We expect omni-channel technology to touch even more players and properties in the new year”.

The impact of ICE Barcelona and the Spanish legislation

How did you perceive the impact of ICE Barcelona for the LATAM region?

“With the event taking place in Barcelona for the first time, we saw a definite increase in participation from our customers in Latin America. Considering the logistics, Spain provides a more practical host location for ICE participants traveling from Latin America, compared to the United Kingdom. So there is a marked increase in representation from Latin America at ICE, due to the new conference location”.

In relation to the Spanish market: what challenges do you face in a market with fragmented regulations according to autonomous communities, and how do you manage to comply with regulations and offer a quality experience to customers?

“Working very closely with our distributor for Spain, Ludum Consulting, we manage not only sales operations for this market but also technical compliance. Given the longtime experience and expertise held by Ludum, they help navigate these challenges effectively for all involved. Their team works hand-in-hand with Konami Technical Compliance to help ensure successful delivery to different customers across the Spanish market”.

To conclude, What are the upcoming events you will be attending?

“ Konami is planning to increase its presence at industry tradeshow events in 2025 to better reach customers—both longtime partners and new connections. ICE Barcelona, SBC Summit Rio, Peru Gaming Show, Indian Gaming Tradeshow & Convention, SBC Summit Americas, and G2E Las Vegas are among the events where our Konami team looks forward to the possibility of meeting.”