PokerStars offered a glimpse of what it hopes is the future of online poker this week.
The world’s biggest online poker site unveiled its latest innovation at the EuroGamer event in Birmingham, UK. Called PokerStars VR (virtual reality), the technology places the player in an immersive world where they can sit down at a table, handle their cards and chips, spot their opponents tells, and interact with them in real time from around the globe.
The VR world offers plenty of novelties to keep the casual player entertained. You can order sushi, smoke a cigar, or bring your pet donkey to the game, and you can do it in exotic locales like a yacht in Monte Carlo, or a rooftop in Macau.
Gadgets like that probably won’t do much to attract the hardcore poker crowd, but the VR game also offers access to all the stats and speed that set online poker apart.
The idea is to blend the best of both worlds, but will it be enough to take hold?
Another Passing Fad?
PokerStars has a poor record when it comes to attempted innovation.
The company has attempted a number of new innovations this year, all of which died a quick death. The most recent of which was Unfold Poker, which allowed players to pick up their folded cards from the muck. It lasted barely six weeks.
Showtime Hold’em, where every player had to show their folded cards, didn’t fare much better.
Will VR Poker be any different, or is this a movement built to last? Put at least one poker personality in the “passing fad” camp.
“I don’t see this ever becoming more than a gimmick in the upcoming years, but it seems like a fun idea,” tweeted popular poker streamer Joe Ingram. “I can’t see people interested in watching/playing this on a regular basis anytime soon.”
Back to the Future
Ingram may be right about VR poker never catching on with the masses, but the technology could still play a huge part in the future of casino gaming in general.
A study by Juniper research suggested that VR gambling will grow by 500 percent between 2016 and 2021, reaching a total of $520 in gross bets by that time.
A more recent study by Grand View Research states that VR headsets have already “significantly impacted” the gaming market and predicts the entire VR sector will explode from a worth of $1.8 billion in to $19 billion in 2021.
Right now, only a few hundred people are playing the beta version of PokerStars VR, but a full commercial version is expected in the near future.
