Dell to expand gaming product portfolio, eyes increased penetration

Laptop maker Dell plans to increase its gaming products portfolio along with increasing the number of gaming experience zones at its stores to 400 by next year to tap into the fast growing Indian gaming industry, informed a senior company official.

The company has currently 650 stores of which 125 host of a special gaming experience zone at its own stores while it has also tied up with large format retail players like Reliance and Chroma that allows customers to try on Dell's product portfolio based on the gaming platforms.

Talking to ET on the sidelines of Gamer Connect 2017 in Hyderabad, Krishnakumar P., vice-president, consumer and small business said, "We are seeing a 3x growth in our gaming product segment majorly backed by improved broadband connectivity and increasing affordability and hence we are looking to expand our gaming product portfolio".

Dell has previously launched Alienware range of gaming consoles and very recently Inspiron range of personal computers.

Explaining the reasons behind need for a good broadband connectivity for the development of gaming industry in India, Kumar says, "While you can play as a group, at home or you could play online but that was not a pleasant experience earlier given the slow broadband connectivity. But that has changed since last year as we saw an improvement in connectivity".

Meanwhile, Dell along with gaming technology provider NVIDIA, is looking to develop gaming ecosystem in India.

Vishal Dhupar, managing director, South Asia, NVIDIA said, "We are bringing case studies from across the world for investors and other stakeholders in this gaming arena to develop new models for its monetization, like setting up of gaming dedicated I-cafes (internet cafes) can go a long way in helping to develop an ecosystem".

According to a May 2017 report by KPMG, the Indian online gaming market currently stands at $290 million, and is poised to grow to $ 1 billion by 2021.