Activision Ties Online Casino and Video Games With World Series of Poker
With the release of World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions this week on the Xbox 360, PS2, PSP, and PC, the concept of online gambling crossing the path of the videogaming industry has once more resurfaced. In fact, it’s been one of the major talking points in the Goldman Sachs Communacopia XV conference held just yesterday. In the conference, Activision CEO Robert Kotich underlined the possibilities of online wagering being tied to videogaming.
Exactly how far will online gambling go when it becomes a part of the future of networked games? Kotich says that there’s a great opportunity for wagering, and how to develop prize play and cash play as a future growth opportunity is an inevitable consideration. But he also says, “you’re going to need a big installed base, and a very different regulatory climate. And that’s going to take some time.”
What we’re looking at, based on Kotich’s answer, is that online gambling itself is a struggling as well as a thriving industry in the U.S. Struggling in a sense that it’s considered illegal, but thriving inspite of the ongoing campaign against it. The booming online casino trend (e.g., bodog.com and goldenpalace.com) has enabled Activision to at least include an online gambling game (WSOP: ToC) in its roster of publications. But at the same time, the “big installed base” and the “different regulatory climate” are something Kotich isn’t seeing very near in the future.
With all online casinos being based outside the US, and online poker ban news going through the broadsheets everyday, it’s really a tough hurdle for America’s videogames and online casinos to cross over.
Buy: [World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions (X360)]
Buy: [World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions (PSP)]
Via GameSpot
With the release of World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions this week on the Xbox 360, PS2, PSP, and PC, the concept of online gambling crossing the path of the videogaming industry has once more resurfaced. In fact, it’s been one of the major talking points in the Goldman Sachs Communacopia XV conference held just yesterday. In the conference, Activision CEO Robert Kotich underlined the possibilities of online wagering being tied to videogaming.
Exactly how far will online gambling go when it becomes a part of the future of networked games? Kotich says that there’s a great opportunity for wagering, and how to develop prize play and cash play as a future growth opportunity is an inevitable consideration. But he also says, “you’re going to need a big installed base, and a very different regulatory climate. And that’s going to take some time.”
What we’re looking at, based on Kotich’s answer, is that online gambling itself is a struggling as well as a thriving industry in the U.S. Struggling in a sense that it’s considered illegal, but thriving inspite of the ongoing campaign against it. The booming online casino trend (e.g., bodog.com and goldenpalace.com) has enabled Activision to at least include an online gambling game (WSOP: ToC) in its roster of publications. But at the same time, the “big installed base” and the “different regulatory climate” are something Kotich isn’t seeing very near in the future.
With all online casinos being based outside the US, and online poker ban news going through the broadsheets everyday, it’s really a tough hurdle for America’s videogames and online casinos to cross over.
Buy: [World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions (X360)]
Buy: [World Series of Poker: Tournament of Champions (PSP)]
Via GameSpot
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