Acer’s strategy to win the gaming market in the Asia-Pacific is not only to be a hardware provider of gaming devices but also to be the Predator League host, esports sponsor and to encourage young talents to join esports.
This was according to Andrew Hou, president, Pan Asia-Pacific, at Acer, Inc., when asked about Acer’s plan to capture the APAC gaming market in an online interview during the opening of the Asia-Pacific Predator League 2020/21 in the Philippines.
“Acer would like to be an esports sponsor. Apart from being a hardware provider, we also want to host the Predator League, sponsor ecampus tournament, and to give more rooms for young talents to learn and grow,” said Hou.
Hou notes that Acer is confident that the market for APAC will grow. “With the Predator League, we want to grow the market share. On the other hand, we want to invite young talents to participate in the event and want the league to be more popular.”
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Acer performed well last year. The company struggled in the second quarter but came back in the third and fourth quarters. In terms of different product segments, it registered a 55% growth last year. The gaming segment reported a year-over-year (YoY) growth of 34%. For the commercial segment especially Chromebook, it had almost five times growth or 389% in the region. The thin and light segment had a 55% growth last year.
The market growth in the thin and light segment in 2020 can be attributed to the growth achieved by the following countries: Philippines, 43%, Taiwan, 40%, Indonesia, 37%, Thailand, 31%, and Singapore, 27%. For Chromebook, Vietnam got the biggest growth at 100%, Thailand, 93%, Indonesia, 71%, Malaysia, 56% and India, 42%. For the gaming segment, Oceania had YoY growth of 99%, India, 63%, Japan, 55%, Hong Kong, 36%, and Singapore, 33%.
The first quarter of 2021 likewise saw a strong growth as the demand for consumer and commercial segments is still very strong, with thin and light segment registering more than double YoYgrowth, while both Chromebook and gaming segments reported more than triple YoY growth.
Regarding the APAC Predator League 2020/21, what made Acer pushed through with the event this year is because “a lot of fans, and gamers would like to see the event, would like to be hosted although it was done online due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” according to Hou. He added that “I think we will also do the Predator League after this year but it depends on the Covid-19 situation.”
This year, Hou is also looking to try hosting the European version of the Predator League. “If we can do that successfully, then we can do it in other countries. Let’s see if it will succeed,” said Hou.
