HP ends Voodoo business unit, but not Voodoo gaming PCs

Hewlett-Packard's Voodoo business unit -- which produces HP's Blackbird, Omen, and Envy 133 gaming PCs -- is going away, although HP is expected to continue selling the Voodoo line-up.

HP said this week that the standalone business unit -- created upon HP's buyout of the Voodoo gaming PC start-up two years ago -- will now be merged with the same division within the company which also produces the Pavilion and Compaq Presario line-ups of consumer PCs.

The move, however, came as no surprise to Voodoo founder Rahul Sood, who is currently the CTO of HP's Global Gaming Business.

"Since we were acquired by HP in 2006 the plan was always to transform cutting edge ideas and innovations from the high end Voodoo portfolio into various parts of HP's portfolio. Thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response over our latest products the plan is now being accelerated ultimately making it a reality sooner than any of us ever imagined," Sood wrote in a blog entry.

Putting a positive spin on the changes, Sood predicted that Voodoo products will now be easier to buy, locally serviceable, and newly available throughout the world, because they will have "the full power of HP's marketing and sales channel" behind them.

Sood also dismissed rumors that HP is dropping the Voodoo brand. "The Voodoo brand is important to HP, very important, so it will remain," he contended.