PC brands eyeing the Gaming Laptop segment with unabated interests

Gaming is seen undergoing a very interesting development; till about a few years back, people thought that gaming will be only in consoles, or with smartphones. But as the gaming industry evolves, to experience true gaming, we see a lot of people coming back to PCs, which cannot be provided by a console or a smartphone -

The Indian gaming Industry has seen unprecendented momentum today, so much so that customers for gaming PCs are growing much more than the conventional PCs. According to IDC, the number of active PC gamers between 2017 and 2019 is expected to have grown by 10 percent, approaching one billion gamers. The data provided by IDC shows that PC OEMs shipped an approximate 366,000 units of branded gaming PCs, which include laptops and desktops in India in 2018. In fact, the market for branded gaming PCs grew by 4 per cent in 2018 compared to 2017.

In India the growth is seen coming not only from metro cities but also regional cities, where gaming is beginning to see some consideration as acquisition of skill sets to collaborate and even compete. The explosive growth of gamers and the rapidly expanding world of creators is further expected to drive the demand for higher performance monitors. These include graphic artists and photographers who require precise color accuracy and high pixel count, to game developers who need responsive and high-resolution monitors to enjoy the immersive feel of playing AAA titles. 

Gaming is seen undergoing a very interesting development; till about a few years back, people thought that gaming will be only in consoles, or with smartphones. But as the gaming industry has evolved, to experience true gaming, people need a very high powered machine, which cannot be provided by a console or a smartphone. And which is why we see a lot of people coming back to PCs, for that true gaming experience. 

The market is very large. In India, it is almost 16% of the total laptop market as of now but in markets like China etc., almost 30% of the laptops sold there are with a gaming requirement. So the potential is huge and so a lot of brands have created a specific sub brand for gaming which was not there earlier. For instance a brand like Lenovo has created an entire brand and a new product line-up called Legion just for the interests of its gamer consumers. 

Gaming laptop brands in India

Thanks to the growing community of PC gamers in the country, they have made gaming laptops the swiftest growing PC segment. The country is emerging as a sizeable gaming device market, offering a huge opportunity for gaming brands. 

“Acer is at the pinnacle of innovation and we already have a 40% market share in the gaming PC segment. For the past few years, we have come up with thinner, lighter and more powerful laptops, All-in-Ones, convertibles, gaming chair, etc. Acer has the largest portfolio of gaming PCs in India with products catering to potential gamers to professionals. At Acer, all our gaming devices are equipped with the advanced cooling system, latest processor, integrated Pass-Through Feature, cutting edge 3D Technology, 4th Gen AeroBlade, Waves MaxxAudio Suite + Waves Nx 3D Virtual Sound and much more to give the gamers an immersive gaming experience, more powerful devices that combine technical prowess,” says Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head, Acer India.

The company continues to ramp up its efforts to expand its portfolio and engagement with the gaming community as India is a key market for it.

“At Dell, we put customer focus at the center of everything we do, and this drives our purposeful innovation. This in turn, enables us to offer our customers’ cutting edge features that truly stand apart. Innovation is ingrained in everything we do at Dell,” says Anand Subramanya, Director, Product Marketing - Dell India. “It is an ongoing journey to improve performance, achieve beautiful design as well as drive greater productivity and efficiency through advanced technology. A part of our new and improved G Series, we have the thin and lightweight G7 and G5 with new features that make gaming easier and more immersive. With a focus on portability in gaming machines, we launched the Alienware m15, which is the thinnest and lightest 15” Alienware laptop, for gamers on-the-go who prioritize weight and thinness for mobility.”

Dell’s initiatives focus on reaching out to the entire spectrum of gamers – amateurs to professionals. It is to work towards creating an inclusive and holistic ecosystem for gamers in India by providing them, not only with cutting edge technology, but also relevant platforms to connect with the community. 

Anand further explains, “Taking the youth segment as an example; Dell launched ‘Futurist’, a national youth engagement program across 400 colleges. This initiative aims at providing direct access for youth to be mentored by one of India’s top eSports players in the country, while also creating awareness about new age careers in gaming. We have also collaborated with events such as NVIDIA Gamer Connect, where we are lead sponsors, to provide a platform for the country’s gaming community to connect, bond and grow. We also collaborate with Team Brutality, one of the top eSports team in the country, in a bid to support and promote great talent in the gaming segment.” 

HP on the other hand, as a leading PC gaming brand in India is working towards democratizing gaming in India. It has entered the gaming segment only two years ago and besides leading the overall India PC market, it is also one of the top PC gaming brands in India. “We recently launched the Omen X 2S, the world’s first dual-screen gaming laptop, which represents the reinvention of traditional gaming laptops.Its inspiration was derived from insights and feedback from the Omen gaming communities and is targeted at modern and serious gamers. Such gamers have a mobile screen-stacking habit and with this in mind, HP has added an unprecedented second screen to the Omen X 2S in the form of an easy-to-use six-inch 1080p touchscreen. The second screen allows users to access WhatsApp, Spotify, Twitch, YouTube among others, while also serving as a hub for OMEN Command Center software,” says Vickram Bedi, Senior Director, Personal Systems, HP Inc. India while explaining the features of the new Omen X 2S.

Lenovo, as mentioned earlier created its sub brand Legion two years back. Lenovo realized that the gaming market is becoming much larger and the consumers want something that they can identify with. So instead of calling it Ideapad Lenovo carved an altogether new brand called Legion. 

“So that is the first marketing investment we did by creating a separate sub brand. In terms of the advertising initiatives, gamers are lot driven by community and word of mouth, so there is a lot of social media activation too. We have also tied up with NVIDIA to do a lot of gaming cafe activation. We are doing community building both on ground and online. We also have a global property called Legion of Champions (LOC). LOC is becoming much larger this year in India,” explains Shailendra Katyal, Executive Director and India PCSD Leader, Lenovo India.

Gaming Laptop: Its growing popularity

The Gaming Industry is seen progressing by leaps and bounds over the past few years. Technological advancements in the computer and graphics processing space have given a massive reason for the dominance of Gaming Laptops.

“Most of gaming products are made for gamers,” says Lenovo. “So some of the features they want in their products are good quality display, graphics card, durability of the machine, etc. If you are a gamer and use it for four or five hours, it also heats up very quickly, so you need something to cool it down. But personally I am very excited with the Legion line-up. Our market share and gaming as of now is low because we were kind of delayed in launching Legion in the Indian market. But with the new line-up coming in August, I am sure that the partners will like our product line up and participate more on the Lenovo gaming laptops,” says an elated Shailendra. 

“For more than two decades, PC gaming has been in the DNA of Dell Gaming and Alienware. Alienware has been innovating and designing premium high-performance gaming PCs for gamers across the world. We also offer robust build quality to sustain high-performance over years of usage,” says Anand. “At Dell, we want to be the front runner and provide gamers at every level with the best-in-class experience at an affordable value,” he says.

Chandrahas points out that some of the USPs of its gaming laptops are Portability, Value for Money, Patented Aero Blade 3D Technology and Hyperdrift Keyboards. 

And so…
The gaming PC market in India to believed to expand to 2.5 lakh units in 2019 as devices in this segment become more affordable and consumers across metros and small towns adopt these high-performance machines. The push towards gaming PCs from the industry comes at a time when the Indian PC market continues its slow growth path. 

However, in spite of the huge growth of gaming seen in India, it is believed that the PC gaming journey is still at its nascent stage and is here for a long run.