Acer & Their Predator Brand A Big Winner in ESports Arena
As 30 million people worldwide watched teams compete, in this weekend’s Intel Extreme Masters eSports event in Sydney one brand stuck out among the key sponsors, Predator, the Acer owned gaming brand that is giving traditional PC gaming brands such as Alienware a run for their money.
In Australia Dell sources have admitted that their once powerful Alienware gaming brand is struggling to hold their own up against the surging Predator brand.
Also struggling is Lenovo who two years ago were confident that they could make inroads into the gaming market in Australia.
A big contributor to Acers success has been the combination of Harvey Norman in the mass retail channel and specialist PC gaming resellers.
While Intel is sponsoring the Extreme Masters eSports event, brands such as AMD are one of the main processor brands reaping the benefits of the surge in demand for PC gaming hardware.
Recently AMD president and CEO Lisa Su said in announcing the Companies quarterly results. “We saw a nice ramp across our PC, gaming product lines.”
“Gaming is a great market, there are lots and lots of gamers — from casual gamers to real enthusiast gamers — and we’re addressing that entire segment.
Su said that AMD recently added HP, Dell and Lenovo as commercial PC clients, and expects them to deliver growth in the PC market during the second half of the year.
According to Microsoft Australia, Windows attach research which is now being used by brands such as Dell and HP to measure PC sales following the exit of GFK Acer is now the number one gaming brand in Australia. Also delivering growth is MSI who are now in a head to head battle with both Acer and Alienware who are believed to have slipped to #3 in the Australian market.
According to Acer CEO Darren Simmons the gaming market is still predominantly 85% males. He bases his conclusion on attach warranty and recent Bond University studies.
Some brands are claiming that the gaming market is 50% female.
Some observers believe that electronic gaming is revolutionising marketing.
Simmons believes that today PC gaming has become “highly engaging” and PC brands like Acer are always seeking greater engagement, so the idea of the ‘gamification’ of the gaming industry is set to drive sales as participants fight to beat an opponent.
Simmons said that the future for PC gaming is going to be all about Artificial Intelligence, 3D, extreme coding, 360 degree and 24bit audio.
He believes that gaming is and will, continue to be at the cutting edge of technology innovation and that Acer is well advanced in developing new AI and 3D technology for their Predator gaming machines.
Another big contributor to the growth in PC gaming Vs box gaming on a PS4 or Xbox is the development of new PC processors by AMD and Intel.
Simmons said that he has allowed staff and management to set up a gaming room at Acers Sydney HQ where management can compete in PC gaming shootouts.
“What we found is that there was excellent interaction between staff and management and that people were staying at the office longer “said Simmons.
“PC gaming and Esports is fast becoming a sport, even the AFL are getting into it. Tens of millions are participating and the channel are benefiting from the growth. Enthusiasts will pay a premium as they want the latest and most cutting-edge technology” said Simmons.
“They are also buying premium priced accessories” he said.
He cited monitors as an example.
“In this business speed is of the essence and if a gamer can lay their hands on a monitor that allows them to kill a component quicker, guess what they will buy it he said”.
A former executive at one of the first gaming Companies Commodore, whose Commodore 64 gaming machines were a hit in the day, Simmons believes that consumers playing games on mobile devices are migrating to PC gaming because they want better control and a significantly improved experience.
He said that he was confident that Acer Australia will be able to grow their share of the gaming market and that new innovations including several new Predator products that are set to be launched in New York later this month will drive sales.