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Bullguard launches its VPN to the Chanel as the grip of gaming continues to take hold, proliferated by the global lockdown measures.
There are no winners in this year-long pandemic but there are certainly some whose fortunes have risen, most notably, online retailers. When schools and universities are locked down and millions of people are furloughed, the ‘stay at home’ shopping effect kicks in. Gaming companies especially are benefiting from the increase in online shopping with lockdowns leading to a boom in gaming like never before.
Nintendo sales tripled in the half year to September 2020, pre-release demand for the Sony Playstation 5 was much higher than expected, while global gaming industry sales have topped $10bn (£7.6bn) each month since March 2020 and sales keep on growing each month. PC resellers have also seen a record-breaking jump in sales. Global shipments of PC and laptop devices reached 79.2 million units during the third quarter of 2020, an increase of 12.7% representing a 10 year high, undoubtedly driven by the COVID-19 crisis.
According to a report last August from DFC Intelligence, 48 percent of all gaming happens on PCs rather than consoles. This is a colossal market considering the report also points out that there are 668 million gamers across Europe.
Gaming consoles Xbox and PlayStation may get the most attention but PCs offer more functionality and so are more appealing for professional and serious gamers. For example, PC gamers can add modifications to games which are hugely popular. They can introduce new characters and environments, as well as other in-game features. This can’t be done with consoles.
PC gamers also have the ability to upgrade their hardware to meet the increased demands of new game releases, enjoy better graphics, and have access to games from PC streaming platforms such as Steam and Origin which are more affordable than those designed for consoles.
Lockdown gaming
A BullGuard survey from May last year revealed that while much of the UK is in lockdown, gamers are taking advantage of the social isolation to up their game time, and by doing so, 49% are alleviating lockdown anxiety, 84% are understandably relieving their boredom, while 60% are battling it out online to help block out the current situation. In short, gamers are gaming more than ever.
Hidden beneath these facts are great opportunities for resellers. For instance, VPN sales have skyrocketed during the pandemic as millions of people have been forced to work and school from home. Recognising the opportunities for its partners, last year BullGuard launched its VPN to the Channel; while the majority of VPN vendors still choose a direct-to-consumer strategy. BullGuard VPN offers compelling value for gamers which resellers can leverage:
- When demand is high, ISPs can throttle Internet speed when they detect data-intensive activities such as gaming. BullGuard VPN provides guaranteed speeds so gamers always have consistent lightning-fast gaming.
- BullGuard VPN avoids DDoS attacks by concealing the IP address. A DDoS attack overpowers the computer resulting in gamers being ejected from a game. Gamers are often targets for DDoS attackers who demand ransoms to call off the attack.
- Because it changes the IP address, BullGuard VPN also provides unlimited access to game servers across the globe so gamers can access geo-blocked games.
- By enabling gamers to use an IP from a different country, BullGuard VPN enables them to access game titles as soon as they are released, rather than waiting for country-specific releases. They may even get games cheaper by buying them in another country.
Gamers go for VPNs
Many gamers already realise the importance of a VPN and are receptive to the benefits. Its fair to say that at some point, most gamers have have been knocked offline due to DDoS attacks and they also value the guaranteed performance a good VPN enables because it stops game lag and provides a defence against games freezing in mid-play.
Partners who have already added BullGuard VPN to their portfolio are well ahead with their sales.
Phil Meredith, General Manager at AWD-IT commented: “With the addition of VPN to BullGuard’s product line-up to its channel offerings we are able to take advantage of the great product margins and recurring revenue share on each purchase in this growing market.”
Unique opportunity for partners
The opportunity to add revenues doesn’t end with BullGuard VPN, its only a starting point.
BullGuard Internet Security delivers, alongside multi award-winning protection, an industry-leading game enhancer which actually boosts the performance of games. The BullGuard Game Booster feature is unique in the industry in that it has earned patent protected approval to both protect gamers and boost PC performance at the same time.
No other vendor can claim this. Why is it important? Cybercriminals are opportunists and given the tremendous growth of the gaming industry, gamers have become even more of a target. They are specifically vulnerable to:
- Credential hacking.
- Scammers offering game cheats.
- Gaming-specific malware and in-game ransomware.
- Password stealers, game cracks and phishing campaigns.
- Software imitating well-known gaming platforms.
- Dodgy third-party apps and games for mobile gaming.
- DDoS attacks.
Despite these threats, gamers don’t want anything to interfere with gameplay. They want the absolute maximum out of their PC. Many gamers have had a poor experience with cybersecurity products given that they tend to slow down gaming performance, and as a result they often prefer not to use antivirus software or choose to turn it off if they are running it.
BullGuard Game Booster has been designed to overcome the short fallings of Internet Security for gamers. Not only does it improve gaming performance but continues to protect gamers against threats when they are gaming so they no longer need to sacrifice security for performance.
- Game Booster recognises when a game is active and other apps are also running.
- It automatically isolates all other apps (which are not games) on one or two CPU cores and stops all annoying pop-ups.
- 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 by award-winning anti-malware.
Jonathan Carter, Managing Director at Fierce PC said: “Antivirus software tends to slow gaming down because it can be resource intensive. The Game Booster feature within BullGuard Internet Security actually enhances gaming performance, which is quite something. With BullGuard, our gamers can ensure they are protected by antivirus and actually get even faster performance.”
BullGuard Advantage partner programme
“Dedicated gamers and their passion for gaming present additional revenue and profit-boosting opportunities for BullGuard partners, both short term and well into the future. For instance, the patented BullGuard Game Booster protects against malware while also delivering faster gaming performance and BullGuard VPN keeps gamers safe online,” says Steve Hicks, Head of Global Sales, BullGuard
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