Amaya Merges its Two Gaming Brands, PokerStars and Full Tilt, Into One Platform

On Tuesday, February 16, game magnate Amaya Inc. announced its decision to combine its two leading online poker sites onto one platform. PokerStars and Full Tilt will be merged into the same liquidity pool some time within the next few months.

A PokerStars press release explained the rationale behind the changes, emphasizing that they are efficiency based and will have many benefits to customers. “This platform migration will allow Amaya’s development and technology teams to focus on improving one market-leading platform rather than two, leading to a better gaming experience for all; improvements and features will be delivered faster and more efficiently rather than doubling development requirements.”

Rafi Ashkenazi, Chief Executive Officer of Rational Group, was quoted in the press release: “Players will benefit from a larger pool of players offering greater game choice, bigger prize pools… It will also make us more nimble as we can focus our technological innovation on one platform, rather than two, so we will be able to innovate more quickly and enter newly-regulating and existing markets swiftly.”

This merger seems intuitive. Amaya had owned the two separate game rooms and platforms since it acquired Rational Group Ltd, which had created PokerStars in 2011 and acquired Full Tilt Poker in 2012. At one point, PokerStars and Full Tilt were close competitors, occupying the first and second place for online poker popularity. Gradually, Full Tilt fell out of favor, but continued to offer online casino games. Full Tilt’s decline was also mentioned in the PokerStars press release: “the gaming brand’s market share has been in decline since its 2012 re-launch.”

The Full Tilt name will not be replaced with PokerStars, however; the two are instead “committed to a dual-poker brand strategy.” According to PokerStars’ press release, “Full Tilt players will continue to enjoy the brand experience they love, with the continuation of Full Tilt avatars and innovative rewards, such as The Deal… Full Tilt will retain its own great promotions, table layouts, specialist tournaments and branded differences, such as Rush Poker (instead of Zoom Poker).” Automated processes will link existing accounts, or prompt previously Full Tilt only players transfer their handle to PokerStars, if it is available.

The single account that results will be usable on both PokerStars or Full Tilt sites.