In the weeks leading up to their float Party seemed to do everything within their power to piss off existing customers who pretty much stopped playing there in favour of other skins.
First they stopped rakeback by freezing the accounts of all affiliates who were deemed guilty until proven innocent.
Secondly, and more recently, they tried to purge 'illegal software' use by randomly shutting down accounts while customer support sent out contradictory messages to a concerned user base (e.g. Pokertracker is illegal says one, Pokertracker is fine says another).
It is no surprise to me that they are seeing a stagnation in business, particularly with regard to 'yield per active player'. They have driven away much of their 'hardcore' player base who can still access the same tables from other skins.
Personally, as a player, I think many of these issues are Party-specific. It is unrealistic to expect the market to sustain growth rates >20% indefinitely and we've probably already reached saturation point with regard to TV and media exposure of the game. Unless a substantial new market (e.g China) is tapped into at some stage I think growth levels <10% are far more likely. The point is that the market is still growing.
Also, the 2005 World Series main event coverage is still to come. This is undoubtedly the biggest event in terms of attracting new players and yet, as far as the non-poker playing audience is concerned, the outcome is still unknown. Based on this I would expect to see a higher growth rate in the poker market during
compared to H1 as the TV coverage will undoubtedly provide some form of 'seasonality' to the market.
Sheriff
Author