Why Won’t They Just Let 3D Poker Die An Honorable Death?

In what I can only imagine is was an attempt to put me on tilt, 888 has proudly announced the release of a 3D client. Sorry, this is one of my pet peeve topics so I’m going to rant a bit here.

3D poker has never taken off. Never. Ladbrokes launched their 3d client sometime back in 2007 and if their poker numbers are any indication, it hasn’t helped them. According to PokerScout, PKR, the grand daddy of 3D poker clients, is in 19th place in the poker market. That’s one spot ahead of PartyPoker’s .fr French regulated room. And that’s after spending millions upon millions promoting PKR 3D poker as the coolest and hottest thing to ever hit the poker scene.

I’m not saying they haven’t created a good product. I’m not even saying 3D will never take off. What makes me want to pull out my hair is that it’s like watching a market economy in reverse. If there was the huge consumer demand for 3D poker – that every room that launches a 3D client thinks there is – Party, Tilt, and Stars would be out of business. Players would have flocked to PKR back in 2006 and they would be the market leaders. But the fact that they have to keep buying ads in all the major media outlets and they’re still at number 19 seems to indicate that the demand for 3D poker isn’t there yet. It might be in the future, but it’s not there today.

And I can’t really fault PKR because they tried something nobody else had done before. Bravo to them. But when it didn’t work and others moved ahead and launched 3D clients you have to wonder if they fell asleep in Econ 101.

Maybe someone will get it right at some point down the road but it’s still got a long way to go before it’s a must-have for poker rooms. With both Ladbrokes and 888 posting “disappointing” poker numbers quarter after quarter you would think they had better things to do than chase market segments that aren’t very promising.

10 thoughts on “Why Won’t They Just Let 3D Poker Die An Honorable Death?”

  1. I don’t want to spoil the vibrant discussion on 3D poker (to which BTW I totally agree), BUT I believe that the 3D the 888 have integrated into their new PokerRoom Software is a different concept than the 3D of PKR and others. http://www.888poker.com/new-888poker.htm
    What 888 are actually doing, is trying to ride on the visual 3D screens and glasses movie trend, and add some sort of a gimmick to some geeky players who are probably bored staring at their 2D tables, and are now thinking “how cool it would be to view it in 3D with my 1$ glasses?!”. In terms of investment, it’s of course no-where near the virtual world PKR had done, and in terms of the buzz and novelty, I think it got what they were aiming for…another useless feature that good some/our attention…;o)

  2. @Douglas: Like I said, PKR did something original and they should be applauded. But it didn’t work. So I don’t understand why Ladbrokes and 888 followed suit. Especially when both companies seem to have enough trouble keeping their customers as it is. For the amount of time, effort, and money that was put into offering a 3D client they could have done 50 other things that make more sense.

  3. To play devils advocate, what’s the alternative move?

    They shut down their 3D client and do the same things everyone else is already doing? I am going to assume they spent millions of dollars actually developing the platform on top of all the marketing they are doing, so to cut their losses and fade into mediocrity would be an even bigger mistake in my opinion….

    What if they shut it down, and then the next day Full Tilt or Poker Stars goes 3D…

    I agree that it is still early and people may not want 3D yet, but business doesn’t always make sense when you look at it rationally…

    Just thinking out loud here…

  4. @Moshe: Exactly. It’s the result of a lot of panicked people sitting around a room wondering how they’re going to stop their poker numbers from falling and 3D or mobile or whatever becomes a way to temporarily distract the company, management, and staff away from the real problems.

  5. I think the whole industry is locked myopically into the idea that online poker should have elements of “realism” – meaning, an online poker table should bear at least some resemblance to the real-world version.

    That’s just not rational. Real-world poker tables are designed they way they are because people have to sit around them and have room for their cards and money, and pretty much for no other reason.

    An online poker “table” doesn’t have to be the “racetrack” that everyone uses. It could be a list. The old IRC gPoker client worked that way. So, in effect, did the old UB “miniview”, which everyone loved, so of course they got rid of it.

  6. It just shows a misunderstanding of what customers want.

    Customers want higher reliability, less complex, displays. No one ever asks FTP or PokerStars for fancier graphics.

  7. 3D, mobile, and now “social” and “ipad” – all are words most commonly used by people who fail with the basics. The time and effort invested in those will divert management attention for a while, yet not forever.
    If you fail with the basics – work harder – but don’t create a diversion.

  8. @Barry: That’s why I said you really can’t fault PKR. They tried something innovative. It didn’t catch on but they have spent so much promoting it that they’ve built a viable product. They’re still bigger than Bodog (which really doesn’t speak well of Bodog considering how much they’ve spent promoting the brand).

  9. Hi Bill, love the blog, long time lurker etc.

    I actually think PKR should keep doing what they are doing, besides the fact the interface is excellent, they soon may have the potential to open their doors to the US market and I think that could see all their hard work pay off, I can see a new recreational US market going nuts for PKR.

    But yeah, all the others should GTFO

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