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Covid-19 may have locked down the best part of Western Europe, but for gamers the self-imposed isolation has allowed them to game to their heart’s content. If you know any gamers, you won’t be surprised to know that they effectively sleep, eat, game and repeat, and then repeat some more. Although many countries are introducing a slow and gradual phased return from lockdown, it’s going to be many months before life as we know it gets back to normality.
It may not be obviously apparent but this represents a tremendous opportunity for those who partner with BullGuard. The PC gaming market is huge. In 2018 alone, just under half a billion pounds was spent on PC gaming hardware according to GFK Entertainment.
To leverage this opportunity, there’s one thing you need to know about gamers. Cybersecurity often doesn’t feature high on their list of priorities. Rather, their focus is understandably on PCs with immense processing power, intense graphic rendering and deep memory. Many gamers have had a poor experience with cybersecurity products given that they tend to slow down gaming performance. As a result, if they have a dedicated gaming rig, they often choose not to use antivirus software. If they are using a multipurpose PC and are running antivirus, they turn it off when gaming. Clearly in both cases gamers are exposed to a multitude of malware threats.
This is where BullGuard Internet Security can help. Alongside the best protection against a wide range of threats, it delivers an industry-leading game enhancer which actually boosts the performance of games while BullGuard protection is running. In short, gamers don’t need to expose themselves to malware or turn off their protection because BullGuard’s Game Booster improves gaming performance while they remain fully protected.
Burning need for protection
Let’s drill into this a bit deeper. Cybercriminals are indelible opportunists and given its tremendous growth, the gaming industry is a prime target. Gamers are vulnerable to a wide range of attacks, from credential hacking, scammers offering game cheats, gaming-specific malware and in-game ransomware, to password stealers, game cracks, phishing campaigns and software imitating well-known gaming platforms and dodgy third-party apps and games for mobile gaming.
BullGuard Internet Security protects gamers with multi-award- winning, triple-layer, AI-driven protection. In turn, Game Booster recognises when a game is active and other apps are also running. It then automatically isolates all other apps (which are not games) on one or two CPU cores and stops all annoying popups. As a result, other CPU cores are fully dedicated to the gaming app, enhancing gameplay without lag and ensuring the gamer is protected at all times. Gamers no longer need to sacrifice performance over online security.
Endorsed by the experts
In a test of comparable products by Chillblast, a specialist system and gaming rig builder, Game Booster came top with the results demonstrating that game performance was actually increased.
Chillblast wanted to determine what impact antivirus software has on gaming. It put six high profile security suites to the test, including BullGuard, Norton, McAfee, AVG and Windows 10 home grown antivirus. Chillblast measured the frame per second (FPS) rate while running the antivirus software it was testing. BullGuard’s Game Booster came out on top, ahead of other brands, with the fastest FPS of 6650, well ahead of second-placed Norton with a FPS of 6544. It was also faster than a PC with no antivirus installed which only notched a FPS of 6570, clearly proving how BullGuard Game Booster delivers faster gaming performance as well as top protection.
Colsey, a professional streamer and member of the Fierce PC Stream Team also tested BullGuard Game Booster when playing Assassins’ Creed, comparing it to a PC with no antivirus and a PC running Norton and McAfee. He measured a frame score and BullGuard again came out on top with a score of 7237, significantly ahead of Norton’s second-place score of 7024.
Review website Tech for Techs also gave Game Booster its Gamer’s Choice Award saying: “BullGuard is a very good security programme. It is not a resource hog like some others on the market. It’s worth every penny… is easy to use and has plenty of extras you don’t have to pay for. Game mode/booster is a strong feature… you get more performance into a game and security is extremely strong.”
BullGuard Internet Security and Game Booster are used as a matter of course by the Fierce esports team. The team is owned by Fierce PC, a builder of bespoke high-spec gaming rigs and is well- known in the billion-dollar professional gaming tournament industry, competing in some of the biggest esports titles including Rainbow 6 Siege and FIFA.
Jon Carter, MD of Fierce PC, says: “Professional esports players don’t want anything to interfere with gameplay. They want the absolute maximum out of their PC and this is where BullGuard Internet Security really comes into its own. You can carry on gaming, it’s an absolute no brainer.”
Top revenue growth
BullGuard partners who sell BullGuard Internet Security into the lucrative PC gaming market stand to reap substantial revenue and profit-boosting growth thanks to the BullGuard Advantage partner programme. It provides the best revenue share scheme in the cybersecurity business; 25 percent revenue share for all trial license activations and renewals.
Consider the following PC refurbisher/system builder example based on the 25% revenue share. If a company installs 5,000 BullGuard 90-day Internet Security trials to their PCs and gaming rigs, given the typical conversion to paid results experienced in the first year, it makes £4,570 in revenue share. With the addition of annual license renewals every year thereafter, this climbs to £9,960 in the second year, £14,000 in the third year and £17.000 in the fourth year.
This is a total of £45,500 over the four years by simply pre- installing BullGuard Internet Security trial licenses with no financial investment whatsoever.
Max Sherafati, CEO of Mesh Computers, says: “BullGuard not only provides our customers with a solid, award-winning security product, they also offer a personal, hands-on account management approach which makes all the difference within the vendor/channel partner relationship.
“Their unique revenue share programme provides our business with a lucrative opportunity to generate a revenue stream from offering a free trial option to our customers. This means that there is no financial obligation on our part, and a considerable income can be generated from customer conversions from trials to paid license subscriptions.”
Everything to gain
The free BullGuard Internet Security 90-day trial can either be preinstalled onto a machine or bundled with complementary products using a license card. It is a great way to leverage the value of BullGuard Internet Security by providing PC gamers with much-needed protection as well as increased gaming performance. And of course, not only does it add extra perceived value for your customers, it is also a great way of driving incremental revenue and profit for your business with 85% of customers renewing their license every year, which is one of the highest rates in the industry.
With no financial investment on the part of the Reseller, its difficult to escape the conclusion that there is everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose.
Get in touch
BullGuard prides itself on partnering with the very best retailers, resellers, system builders and vendors to help keep consumers and small businesses stay safe online. For any organisation looking to become a part of the BullGuard network, please contact Rob Livings, Sales Manager UK & Ireland at BullGuard on 07825 288279 or by emailing rob.livings@bullguard.com. To learn more about partner qualification and channel benefits please visit www.bullguard.com/partners.
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