HP Snuffs Up VoodooPC

At a press event in New York this evening, Hewlett-Packard executives announced the company was acquiring boutique gaming PC manufacturer VoodooPC. The announcement represents a competitive strategic move on the part of HP--and is, perhaps, a harbinger of the role PC manufacturers see gaming PCs playing in the future. In March, archrival Dell acquired Alienware, another specialty manufacturer of gaming PCs; Dell has chosen to keep Alienware separate from the main corporate fold, and the company even continues to offer its own gaming system on its Web site.

Today's announcement makes it clear that HP sees a future in gaming desktops. In 2004, the company released the Compaq X gaming PC on a trial-basis through Comp USA and HPshopping.com. By acquiring VoodooPC, HP gains a name brand that has cachet and a long history with the gaming community. HP plans to keep the VoodooPC name, and market systems under that moniker. The benefits could flow both ways: With the power and reach of HP behind it, VoodooPC's founders now have a chance to reach the broader, more casual gaming market than the company has been able to do on its own. VoodooPC founders Rahul Sood and Ravi Sood will be staying with VoodooPC, now under a newly formed business unit within the HP Personal Systems Group. How VoodooPC and its products may evolve under HP's realm was unclear from the announcement.

Casual gaming is a growing part of the gaming industry. At this year's E3 Expo in Los Angeles, several companies, including Microsoft, were reaching out towards the so-called casual gamer, loosely defined as someone who enjoys gaming but doesn't devote unending hours in the pursuit of it. Online gaming and casual gaming go hand-in-hand, and the market is exploding; according to an IDC report, "U.S. Online PC Gaming 2006-2010 Forecast and Analysis: All About Online Gaming," the online PC gaming segment alone is expected to reach $4.9 billion in revenues from sales, in-game advertising, and in-game microtransactions.