Sega and Playtech: the gaming dream team?
Sega and Playtech's partnership is still in its early days, but has the potential to transform existing egaming products and audiences. Should established operators be concerned?
THE last year has seen an emerging trend for crossovers between the online gaming and video gaming industries, notably Bwin’s buy of massive multiplayer online game publisher United Games last September and scores of casino providers rushing to license video game brands.
The recent deal between console and video games provider Sega and gaming software supplier Playtech is the latest sign of this convergence between the video and online gaming worlds, as both parties explore ways of developing more engaging content and widening potential customer bases.
Sega and Playtech have launched a poker room and casino on Playtech’s iPoker network and plan to develop egaming products together, suggesting online poker operators may soon have to compete for market share with video gaming companies’ new ventures.
Michael Hanson, PR manager for Sega, does not think it will be difficult to sell poker and casino to its core audience. “We see online gaming, like video gaming, as a form of entertainment,” he said. “We’re constantly evolving and saw this as an opportunity to grow. This is however a very new partnership for us; we’ve only been live for about two weeks.”
Poker affiliate and blogger Bill Rini agrees that Sega could develop a new player base for online gaming. “They have the advantage of having an established market that is not as exposed to online gaming. The poker industry advertises to people already interested in the market. They advertise in the same magazines, at the same conferences. Sega’s player base is people who have been playing video games, not poker.”
Hanson is, however, aware of the concern that by merging Sega’s core audience with online gaming, children could be seen to be attracted by a familiar brand into gambling. He said Sega is determined to ensure this does not happen.
“We’ve taken all precautions to avoid minors using the product,” he says. “It’s something we’re aware of and so we’re not using any of the younger characters from the Sega range to promote the poker and casino. We also use ID-authentication firm 192.com for age verification.”
THE launch of a poker room and casino on Playtech’s iPoker network is just the start for the Sega/Playtech partnership. Bingo will be launched by the end of the year, with new projects in the pipeline depending on the partnership’s success.
The merging technology of Sega and Playtech suggests a virtual 3D casino for consoles, similar to the environment PKR has developed around poker, is inevitable. This could lead to increased competition for a brand which has carved its market niche based on its differentiated product. But PKR’s chief executive Malcolm Graham seems unperturbed.
“We wish them all the luck in the world,” he said. “We’re confident that we’ll keep on innovating and maintain our position in the market.”
Conversely, Rini thinks the emerging crossover trend should make all leading online gaming operators, including PKR, sit up and take notice. “60 to 70% of the market is too small to do anything in response. But the big brands will have to realise the potential base of customers that they can attract.”
The possibilities then are considerable for joint video and online gaming ventures, and while Sega Poker is arguably limited in what it can currently do with its software as part of iPoker, new products emerging from relationships such as it has with Playtech often have the potential to revolutionise online gaming by providing a more interactive consumer experience.
How Sega and Playtech’s partnership develops will, however, also depend on the pace of regulatory change in technologically advanced and valuable markets. Hanson said: “We’re not talking to companies in the US, France, Japan or Germany because of the tight regulations in those countries.”
But once the US becomes regulated, the potential could surely be huge for Sega and other video gaming companies, should they wish to further explore the crossover with egaming. So rather than glancing alongside at their peers, perhaps egaming companies would be best advised to look further afield when considering where the longer-term threat to their market position could be coming from.