Pokerstars to Release Free-to-Play Pokerstars VR

September 25, 2018 10:25 PM
  • CDC Gaming Reports
September 25, 2018 10:25 PM
  • CDC Gaming Reports

The online poker site Pokerstars announced this week on their official blog that they will launch an entirely new poker service later this year, Pokerstars VR. The new entity will be a free-to-play virtual reality program, which will come as something of a gut punch to any serious players who might own headsets. We want to play for real money!

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It seems, however, that the time is not yet right for that. This may be due to the recent regulatory barrage currently bearing down on the blurred or nonexistent boundaries between gambling services and games, More likely, it’s due to a degree of immaturity in the development of the VR technology and the accompanying market. Stars, as with many other VR gambling services which currently exist on a range of hardware platforms, may simply not deem the time right for a real money service. That does not mean it will never materialise.

“Once you put on the headset, you enter a visually stunning environment,” say Stars. A screenshot of the intro screen is reminiscent of the now defunct 3D poker engine PKR, which used 3D avatars, gesture and sound to convey a sense of immersion on traditional screens. Stars further claims that you “can handle chips and cards just as in the real world”, which certainly sounds encouraging.

They also promise a range of features, from comprehensive in-game statistics to the more recreational sounding abilities to “throw food at people, smoke a cigar, or… own a pet donkey if that’s your thing”.

The game was developed alongside Lucky VR and was demoed at EuroGamer in Birmingham this week.

The current state of the service at launch isn’t necessarily the important thing. What’s key is that the biggest poker entity, by a large measure, has decided to enter the VR market as an early adopter. That’s huge. Whether Stars does it first or not, real money can’t be too far behind