Why should more resellers invest in eSports?

eSports is on the rise according to HyperX’s business manager Edward Baily, which is why more resellers should stock up on components. Here he explains why…

Last year in Katowice, Poland, I experienced first-hand one of the world’s largest PC gaming eSports tournaments: The Intel Extreme Masters World Championship. 

To see (and hear) 12,000 passionate fans watching a League of Legends live final was amazing, but to know that 642,000 concurrent viewers were also tuned in through Twitch TV was incredible. 

Last year it was estimated that there are 323 million gamers in Europe alone; this number is only slightly lower than the 351 million sports fans, according to market researcher Newzoo. This is why we see huge growth in the eSports industry and continue to support gaming from grass roots players and events, to global tournaments and teams. Currently HyperX sponsors 27 professional eSports organisations around the globe and is a title sponsor of both the DreamHack and Intel Extreme Masters gaming events. 

The Newzoo report also states that the global games market will jump from $83.6 billion (£53.5 billion) last year to $91.5 billion (£58.5 billion) this year, an increase of almost 10 per cent year-on-year. 

This significant market growth is reflected in our own global unit growth of 30 per cent year-on-year. Console gaming remains popular, however, PC gaming continues to go from strength to strength allowing users to easily customise nearly every component of their PC. 

Many of our gaming partners are focusing strongly in this sector; PC Specialist, Cyberpower PC, Scan and Overclockers all have impressive custom built system line-ups. With the arrival of DreamHack (the world’s largest LAN Festival) to London in September the British audience is going to be able to experience eSports at its best, which will further inspire fans to custom build PCs to their own specific gaming needs.

With this growing trend of PC gaming, HyperX is constantly listening to fans through channels such as Facebook and Twitter, which has led to the development of products. In mid 2014 HyperX launched the first pro gaming headset called Cloud. It has since received rave reviews around the world for its comfort and sound quality. Furthermore, HyperX has continued to be at the forefront of consumer’s need for speed; recently launching the HyperX PCIe Predator SSD for the ultimate gaming PC systems. 

The launch of the new Intel Skylake CPUs at Gamescom was a major move into making higher end gaming systems more affordable, which will only strengthen the market further.

It’s fair to say that not every eSports fan games on a PC platform, but those that do demand the best components their money can buy. The bar for fast and reliable components is constantly being raised and if they haven’t already, resellers should be investing in this fast growing market.

Edward Baily is the business manager for Kingston’s gaming brand HyperX in EMEA.

PCR’s Sector Spotlight on Gaming is running throughout September – click here for more articles