Unibet Poker, an online gambling company recently announced that it had made a decision to leave the Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) as it had plans to create and launch its own individual network during the early part of 2014.
Unibet will now collaborate with Relax Gaming, a software development company that specializes in gaming software to launch an innovative social gaming community for its online poker players.
In a release, Daniel Eskola, Head of Gaming at Unibet said
The environment in the online poker industry has changed over the years and we have come to the insight that being part of a poker network is not sustainable for Unibet in the long term. This project has given us the possibility to start from a blank piece of paper and define everything we believe is important for a fun poker experience. In a way, our goal is to bring the fun back to poker by creating software with a clear focus on the casual player.
One of the key objectives for Unibet Poker is to develop gaming software that is a lot more player friendly. The company confirmed that their latest software will have a new lobby, 3D backgrounds, the option to change avatar and screen name, as well a number of gameplay features like missions and achievements. The software will be customized so that both Mac and PC users will be able to download the same. It will also be customized so that tablet and browser versions for both iOS and Android will be compatible.
One of the reasons behind this strategic decision to move away from Microgaming Poker Network (MPN) and launch their own standalone network is because Unibet Poker wants to broaden its customer base as it looks to now target casual poker players who do not play poker on a daily basis. The new software will look to make things interesting and easy for these casual poker players to be engaged and have an awesome player experience. Unibet Poker has been working closely with Relax gaming for the last 7 months and are happy with the results so far.
Speaking about the company’s strategy moving forward Eskola said
Yes, we will not be able to compete with the big sites when it comes to have massive starting fields and gigantic guarantees. However, we do not see that as something negative — rather, the opposite. A lot of our players have told us they prefer to play tournaments with under 100 players and with smaller buy-ins.
We can now offer this, with an occasional big tournament as a complement
