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Brands who want to succeed in the PC gaming sector shouldn’t focus on sales numbers and price cuts, but must show passion, find their niche and give back to gamers to help grow the community, argues YoYoTech MD CK in this opinion piece…
The PC system building market has totally changed. It has reinvented itself out of gaming.
At YoYoTech we saw this market emerging years ago and realised this is where the future of PCs would lie. Going forwards, we must be creative. We’ve all got to find that angle and our own little niche. You’ve got to bring some uniqueness to your brand.
There’s a lot of opportunities in the open market for gamers and gaming companies, so we’ve just got to keep our creative hat on, come up with ideas and listen to the community. We’ve got to bring something new, not just try to do what everyone else is doing or what the tier 1s are doing, or compete with the consoles. Gaming is all about imagination.
I had a meeting with Microsoft recently and they said the UK gaming market is in double-digit growth. Windows 10 is also a good move, and with DirectX 12 and more Xbox games coming onto PCs, as well as Intel Skylake systems, it’s all fantastic news for the channel.
Looking beyond new hardware, eSports is very, very important. We’re about to make some real announcements regarding eSports in the coming months. I think it’s the bread and butter of the gaming industry and we must not ignore it.
We will also be looking at sponsoring players that stream games online very soon. We’ve grown from a small company due to our local customers, so as we grow we’d like to give back to the community. And I believe that it’s important for gaming brands to give back to the community and grow it. Gaming is all about the community, and the community all buys from each other.
There will be more opportunities around the corner too, like virtual reality, which could be the future of gaming – but I think these companies need to be smart with how they launch their headsets. There needs to be product loyalty. I hope it doesn’t become another product which is a [price] bloodbath on Amazon or something like that.
I just hope the community realises how important it is for them to support local vendors and factories, because without that, gaming would not have grown to this level that it’s at today. The bigger beast always just wants to sell and tries not to give anything back, but PC gamers are loyal and passionate. They’re the reason quality products are always coming out – because they’re forcing higher quality.
For gaming to grow to the next level, the passion needs to remain there.
PCR’s Sector Spotlight on Gaming is running throughout September – click here for more articles
