The gaming circuit constantly evolves and undergoes changes every year which makes it an extremely diverse industry. The Nintendo may have disappeared (and still remains a classic) but new rigs have come in to replace them. When it comes to games and gadgets, this industry has a mind-boggling variety of options to offer. While some review games, others see themselves as ‘architects of the experience’, as they build gargantuan rigs to give hardcore gamers, the ultimate gaming experience. Almost a niche category in itself, building custom-made PCs and gaming rigs for high-end consumers and professionals have become quite a head-turner now.
Ahmer Mohammed, an entrepreneur at MvP Gaming, has been a gamer for as long as he can remember. While at college, he and his friends started witnessing the fragmented nature of the PC gaming industry. Rather than creating a customisable machine, assembly shops priced rigs first and then thought of specifications later. “Getting together a gaming rig meant endless hours of research on component benchmarks, ratings and mixing/matching components to arrive at the right configuration. The problems didn’t end there. If you were in a Tier 2 city, many components aren’t in stock and take weeks to arrive.” Ahmer came to the realisation that there were more people out there who didn’t have access to gaming rigs and that is how he started MvP Gaming, a platform to customise rigs and offer quality gaming experiences.
Starting outAs MvP started setting up, Ahmer realised that the market for gaming PCs in India, was divided into three distinct categories — Entry level, Performance level and Enthusiast level. “We decided not to open up a store-front, because it just added to cost, and doesn’t help us in reaching a pan-India audience. This was a big decision, as many customers are reluctant to spend beyond Rs. 50,000 on a gaming rig online, especially since we’re not really Amazon or Flipkart. But we feel that that bet paid off, considering the initial responses that we’ve had.”
So what kind of numbers are involved in PC gaming? The team at MvP feels that the beauty of PC gaming is that it fits any budget. A good rig could cost you anywhere between Rs. 20,000 - 30,000 to over Rs. 2 lakh. If they were to put a number of a state-of-the-art rig, you’d be looking at shelling out a whopping 1.6 lakh for a total enthusiast build. “For a regular budget conscious build, which doesn’t want to compromise on performance — you're looking at a range between Rs. 50,000 – 80,000, anything above that, you’re in overkill territory.”
A big marketKhwaja Faraz, a visual content creator and strategist for photography, videos, 3D animation and design, has helped research and build medium and higher-end computers for friends. He is of the opinion that building rigs aren’t the most complicated part, but making sure there are no bottlenecks is. “There are very niche companies in India who make proper gaming and workstation computers,” says Khwaja. “The builds that the more popular companies have are either too expensive or are not powerful enough. There are boutique computer builders who do specialise in building high-end rigs but they are very few. India has a huge vacuum in this area, and to my knowledge, there are no big companies in India making proper peripherals for gamers, and that is a pretty big market.”
What it takesIf you’re an engineering student or a computer enthusiast looking to work with customising rigs and personalising gaming for customers, then you may need to have a good understanding of computers, hardware and networking. “The ability to learn quickly, and understand the technical aspects is vital too,” says Khwaja. “A deep love for tinkering helps. Hardware and networking certifications will help as well. To really make one-of-a-kind rigs, design knowledge is an added plus. Being able to work with metal, acrylic and glass will really make you stand out.” Sharing the same sentiment, Ahmer too believes that going crazy with a screwdriver works. “Find out how every individual piece of hardware works. Read up on it as much as you can, troubleshoot your friends’ tech problems, and like with most things, the Internet is a great place to start.” Being an engineer and having studied with some of the brightest minds in the country at NIT Trichy, the one thing that he really values from his academic experience is working with paper-thin deadlines. “Being a start-up, this has helped us immensely, without work pressure ever getting too much to handle.”
DemandsA lot of Indian origin engineers are already helping drive hardware innovation, states Ahmer. “All major hardware manufacturers have research centres in India where a lot of R&D goes into improving upon previous generations of hardware. The future looks bright, with more broadband penetration and a burgeoning middle class — you can expect to see a steady rise in hardware demand over the years, even if conventional forecasting suggests otherwise. The major problem Indian consumers looking for PC hardware face is choice — a dearth of local manufacturers and not all major manufacturers having distribution channels throughout the country. This is bound to change in the near future.”
TrendsThe Indian gaming PC market is quite small compared to the rest of the world, simply because of the number of gamers vis-a-vis other countries. “When we look at popular gaming platforms like Steam, India accounts for 850000 active gamers, v/s China who have 9 million gamers for a comparable population,” says Ahmer.
“And looking at global trends, the PC market itself has been shrinking for the past two years on the back of rising smartphone sales. However, gaming enthusiasts are positive about the PC segment being stable and even predicting a geometric growth over the last few quarters. Most of the large PC manufacturers are creating their own gaming lines for PCs and laptops to chart sustainable and profitable growth.
The gamer’s POVRanjith Nair, an avid gamer, says that as someone on the other side of gaming, he is always on the lookout for new products. Before buying hardware for a game, he searches for the product that interests him, proceeds to look for alternative models and comes down to specific choices to suit his needs. “I also explore user reviews and videos on unboxing that shows the cons of each product,” says Ranjith. Chennai has a good multi-player platform with a lot of FIFA and DoTA players. He, however states that it has been a while since there was a thriving gaming atmosphere, compared to a time when there were large tournaments that brought together gamers from all parts of the city.
As a gamer, Ranjith looks for good visuals and is prepared to invest in the tech that gives him what he needs. “Budget is another concern but building a good rig will definitely cost you much more than just buying a Playstation 4 or an Xbox One. However, the experience is unparalleled.”
