LENOVO Philippines expressed optimism on the local gaming industry in 2019, stressing that the local gaming notebook market grew more than 70 percent year-on-year of sales volume and almost 80 percent in terms of sales value.
In a recent interview with BusinessMirror, Lenovo Philippines’s Michael Ngan said the local trend indicated a lot of Filipinos are expected to shift their preference to gaming notebooks over the normal clamshell notebooks, which the market has been accustomed to.
“Seeing this huge growth, we expect all major brands to invest heavily on PC gaming this 2019, making it a major growth driver for the consumer notebook market this year,” Ngan said.
Although the Philippines is still a price-sensitive market, Ngan said gaming brands in the country have devised several strategies in order to adjust to the market. In fact, he said prices of gaming notebooks have dropped considerably, thereby allowing more people to buy them.
“It is worth noting, however, that price has never been a big issue to a niche market like the gaming community. Gamers are very much ready to spend their hard-earned money as long as the price is justified—both in terms of specifications and after-sales support,” he said.
Right now, Ngan said the gaming community remains to be a niche market despite the huge growth in sales value and volume. He added Filipinos still prefer “value for money” devices that hit the sweet spot in terms of specifications and price. Although the Philippines has only a very small community of enthusiast and hardcore gamers, Ngan said Lenovo is very optimistic and beefing up its portfolio to provide the market with top-of-the-line gaming machines.
Ngan also pointed out that the low personal computer (PC) penetration is possibly a reason behind the slow growth of gaming in the country. “This cost difference is usually too much for first-time PC buyers, so the goal is to get them to try regular PCs first then later on, convince them to invest in a dedicated gaming PC suited for their needs,” he pointed out.
Meanwhile, Lenovo inaugurated on February 28 its first Legion Concept Store in the Philippines as part of efforts to bring game-changing devices closer to Filipino gamers in the company’s bid to own the local gaming segment.
Located on the fourth floor of The Annex of SM City North Edsa, the Legion store features a wide range of products from Lenovo’s Legion gaming lineup, which visitors can personally test and play games on. Launched in the Philippines in 2017, the Lenovo Legion line has established significant foothold in the country and is expected to continuously increase in sales and popularity among the gaming community.