Passion for online games driving notebook sales

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 10

Even as Haryana is emerging as the country’s sports powerhouse, youths in neighbouring states such as Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and J&K are hooked to computer gaming and driving the sale of gaming notebooks. The sale of gaming notebooks is growing at a staggering 53% in the region.

On an average, a gaming notebook is priced between Rs 60,000 and few lakhs, depending upon the brand and configuration. According to the industry, youth and professionals are propelling the demand of gaming notebooks. “While the personal computer market is likely to witness single-digit growth, the sale of gaming notebooks is witnessing a growth of 53% and likely to continue for the next 2-3 years,” said Vipul Mathur, general manager, North, Lenovo India.

According to Mathur, the overall penetration of gaming in India is around 2-3% but it is growing exponentially. 

The region comprising Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir contributes 6-7% of the total gaming notebook sales in the country.

“Across India, the market size is around 180,000-190,000 in consumer gaming notebooks as per IDC report,” Acer CMO and Consumer Business Head Chandrahas Panigrahi said.

As per IDC, Acer is the number one brand in gaming notebooks with a market share of 32.8%.

“The rise in the popularity of gaming notebook is partly due to the increased broadband and 4G penetration in the region, acceptance among consumers, increased awareness in social media and companies focus on more gamer-centric devices,” said Panigrahi.

They said easy accessibility of games was also one of the reasons behind increase in sales. 

To tap the potential market, major multinationals like Acer, Lenovo, HP, Asus and Dell have expanded their product portfolio. Many of the manufacturers are connecting with gamers and get an in-depth understanding of what they are really looking for.

“We have launched products specially engineered to address the desires and concerns of today’s gamers and the new offerings answer users’ call for increased power, portability, customisation capabilities and more,” said Mathur.

To have a bigger share of the market, the manufacturers are not only putting out devices with the latest-generation specifications but also getting a step further by embedding new designs and incredible functions. 

Like other players, Asus has also recently launched two gaming laptops in India. HP also launched Omen 15 gaming laptop, as it eyes a larger chunk in the ‘thin and light’ and gaming laptop categories.

According to estimates, India will have a staggering 320 million gamers of the total 735 million internet users by 2021.