Why gaming is a business that should not be underestimated

My target customers are retailers in the commercial field, people who are dealing with small and medium-sized Italian companies every day: a work that is anything but simple, and made even more difficult by economic problems and the economic crisis, rivalries, and sometimes even by products that are not entirely legal and which manage to sneak into this market.

Diversification and opportunities

Like in most markets, the key to surviving in IT is diversification, the search for opportunities and a little bit of courage to bring a future vision into the present.

From this point of view, it’s not a matter of personal opinion that one can no longer fail to consider gaming as a very interesting activity for business: the numbers speak for themselves, but there is much more behind them, and anyone who has believed in this field has been rewarded in many ways.

From the media point of view, the world of gaming has become very interesting: not only are movies and television drawing on such content for several highly successful franchises (for instance, the movies “Warcraft”, “The Angry Birds Movie”, “Pokémon Detective Pikachu”, “Sonic the Hedgehog”, “Tomb Raider”, “Uncharted”, the TV series “The Witcher”, the wonderful and innovative “Arcane”, “Resident Evil” and “Tekken: Bloodline” on Netflix – just to name a few very famous titles), but video games are a constant presence in the interactions of young people, while the success of digital channels such as Twitch and Discord is well-known, which were born precisely to show gameplay and then expanded to more generic areas.

All of this shows that until a few years ago, ignoring the world of video games was a big risk, while today it means certain loss.

Some numbers

Despite the fact that in 2022 the Italian Revenue Agency went on to close all the eSport halls in Italy, something that has caused much debate and on which there are no further news at the moment, the numbers for gaming in Italy are not to be underestimated.

Worldwide, the gaming industry had $175 billion in revenue in 2020 (at the height of the pandemic), with more than 2.7 billion active gamers, growing by a whopping 2.243 billion in 2021, despite the fact that lockdowns were no longer such a pressing issue.

The age range (taking into account both consoles and PCs) is between 11 and 60 years, with an average of 8.7 hours per week spent playing video games, for about a third of the world population. In Italy too, the presence of gamers is to be taken seriously: although in our country, and generally throughout Europe, the standard image of a gamer is still that of a young man, the gaming communities on Twitch, Facebook, WhatsApp and Telegram are populated by people of all ages, and the proportion of women, much smaller until a few years ago, is also seeing great growth.

To note: when we’re talking about gamers, we mean those who play on consoles but also on PCs: the player doesn’t choose the platform, the player chooses the game and consequently uses the best platform for the title.

Why it’s good business

The substantial and most important difference between a gamer and any other type of user is that the former is competitive, indeed highly competitive: first of all against themselves, then against other users, whether real-world friends or virtual ones. And in order to excel in skill at their videogame of choice, they are ready to invest time and economic resources in technology that will help them prevail over their opponents.

During the pandemic, we saw the hitherto undervalued streaming market emerge, with camcorders, cameras, lights, microphones, headphones and green-screens being necessary accessories, into which many users invested significant amounts of money.

But in the world of video games, we’re talking about a whole other level in terms of numbers and quality: the prosumer or professional gamer sees the world of streaming as a starting point for their needs, but they’re aware that there is much more: the video card, the display, the very fast memory, the stylish look, the gaming chair, the mouse and the keyboard, just to mention the first and most important needs, added to those of streaming mentioned above.

Thus, a gamer will spend more money, always and in every case, than any other kind of user: and it doesn't matter if they’re good or not (if they’re not, they will be), if they aim to become famous or not (if they don’t, they will) or if they want to appear on camera or not (if they don’t, they will). If they’re a gamer, they’ll aim for the very top, whether consciously or not.

So they’ll spend more on everything, all the time: especially if they’re a PC user (meaning a Windows PC, since the macOS and Linux worlds aren't suitable for this pastime), they’ll have the ability to customize much of the hardware, plus the fact that technology is evolving at very high speeds and any investment will last much less than expected.

In the commercial world, one of the biggest problems you have with users is that they are reluctant to change the software, hardware and services, while in gaming, change is in the DNA: you feel the push to always improve your gaming station, because gaming is a pleasure, not a duty, and as such it gets the emotional and impulsive realm involved.

Why it’s good business (part two)

There’s no way around it: if a user today wants the ultimate in technology, they must choose a gaming product, no matter what kind. Then they can use it for business, of course, because (unfortunately) you can’t play all day and you also have to work.

But the point is that if the best of technology is in gaming, the prices reflect this reality: a basic business mouse, of the kind most often sold to companies, has an average retail price of 9.99 Euros, while a gaming mouse starts from 30/35 Euros and rises up to 200 Euros. Same with the keyboards, which today can cost several hundred Euros, depending on the customization of the keys; likewise the speaker systems, which can’t be Bluetooth (because of lag) but must be wired or with dedicated wireless systems, as well as headsets, microphones and accessories of all kinds.

Furthermore, a gamer will always need the latest on the software side as well, to support new titles, so this is a situation quite different from the corporate one, where you often need to insist for them to update the Windows and Office version to the latest one. A gamer will naturally ask for the latest, with different hardware additions.

And as mentioned above, this no longer applies only to young men, but also to women, as well as ?those who, like myself, have many years of work experience under their belts, but never fail to enjoy killing a bunch of monsters before dinnertime.

Why a commercial reseller?

Now you're probably wondering what’s the point of this introduction and this in-depth analysis for an audience of mostly resellers who work with companies, especially small and medium-sized ones. The answer is simple: because in Italy today, this is exactly the profile of a reseller that can be a match for a growing gamer.

Those who play and want hardware first turn to retail channels, where they’ll find pre-packaged products with almost no customization, enough for them to start the adventure.

But then, as soon as they go further on the path and the need for something better is more pressing, it’s clear that the role of the reseller becomes key. For building a PC, for the availability of some key components (such as motherboards, video cards, connectors or others), but also for the classic problems of compatibility and the concrete realization of the project (“Do these components work together?”, “Is this power supply enough for my setup?”, “Will this video card allow me to get 160 fps?” and similar questions) as well as for the design of the gaming space (which goes far beyond just the PC: remember that every gamer needs a chair, lights, desk, monitor, supports to place their devices).

But the reseller can also be the focal point for inspiration, stirring the imagination and checking parts availability. Obviously, the competition with the online stores is tough, because the average gamer is certainly above average in terms of knowledge of the technical details, but it’s also true that the reseller can play to their strengths here, thanks to their physical presence, availability and, why not, even friendship with the users, which never hurts.

A reseller can offer their experience gained from years of assembling business PCs in a much more challenging project, but whose reward is certainly higher profit margins and much more exciting visibility.

Is it worth it?

Let's be clear that to start being active in the gamer community, as a reseller of hardware and/or services, you don't need to be a gamer yourself. It does help, a lot, but it's not strictly necessary.

And this is the biggest point that many retailers don't understand when they tell me, whenever I bring up the topic, that gaming is not a field they do business in, without ever having looked at it as best they could.

My advice for those who have never thought about this is to invest a day and take a trip to Lucca Comics or to GamesWeek, the most important Italian trade fairs (one in Lucca, the other in Milan) and take a look at the number of people, the level of interest and passion (as well as the prices) – which they can turn into a safe business that is profitable and, why not, also a lot of fun.

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