Stephen K. Bannon once guided a global firm that made millions helping gamers cheat

[applegrove]

By Shawn Boburg and Emily Rauhala at the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/steve-bannon-once-guided-a-global-firm-that-made-millions-helping-gamers-cheat/2017/08/04/ef7ae442-76c8-11e7-803f-a6c989606ac7_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_bannonchina-1210p%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.0561bd3c0703

"SNIP.............


Stephen K. Bannon had already been successful in Hollywood and on Wall Street when he flew to Hong Kong in mid-2005 to learn more about a promising new opportunity.

A start-up called Internet Gaming Entertainment, or IGE, had found a novel way to make millions of dollars each month in the exploding online video-game industry. Working from the 19th floor of a skyscraper in Hong Kong, the company sold virtual goods for real money — magical swords and capes and other accoutrements that granted video-game players power and access in more than a dozen popular online role-playing games.

There was one problem, though: The companies that owned and operated these fantasy games prohibited what IGE was doing, and even considered it illegal. Several IGE executives told The Washington Post that they thought Bannon could help change that. Bannon agreed to become the company’s vice chairman.

“The whole reason Bannon came on was to try to legitimize the business,” said David Christensen, who was hired as the company’s vice president of business development about the same time as Bannon.


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[Foamfollower]

1. Bannon was successful at legitimizing the business model.

Now, all of those games sell items and money for real cash in the in-game stores.