Taiwan Innovation Shines throughout Global PC Gaming Industry

Brands like GIGABYTE and TT eSPORTS are redrawing the playing field.

News provided by

Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA)

Dec 08, 2011, 07:00 ET

TAIPEI, Taiwan, Dec. 8, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Taiwan is adding its flair for innovation to the global PC gaming industry. Brands like GIGABYTE, Thermaltake, and MSI are redefining the gaming landscape with their groundbreaking product design and rigorous promotion of e-sports.

(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2011/12/06/20111206165748588915.html )

Among the top Taiwan brands making a foray into the global market is motherboard maker GIGABYTE. The company offers a wide range of motherboards created specifically to enhance gameplay for hardcore users, such as its signature Ultra Durable model and G1-Killer series boards, as well as a platform of mouse and keyboards designed to get help gamers perform at the highest levels.

Stewart Haston, technical marketing specialist at GIGABYTE, spoke about Taiwan's role in the PC gaming sector.

"As with the broader PC market in general, the gaming PC segment is in most respects, dominated by Taiwanese manufacturing and innovation," he said. Haston also pointed out that Taiwan possesses a closely-knit eco-system of component manufacturers that make products specifically designed for and marketed directly to gamers.

Tt eSPORTS is another local brand taking PC gaming to the next level. Founded in 2010, the company is a unit of PC case and cooling equipment maker, Thermaltake. Tt eSPORTS boasts a product line designed by gamers, for gamers, including gaming keyboards, mouse, and headsets.

Tt eSPORTS Managing Director Tony Liu explained how Taiwan is ideally suited for PC gaming product development.

"Product-wise, for Taiwan to design the products only makes sense because our community is very active in the games," said Liu. "We have a lot of room to grow for hardware, as there is no language barrier."

Taiwan also stands at the forefront of countries that are turning PC gaming into a professional sport, with Tt eSPORTS leading the charge. According to Liu, there are 15 professional gaming teams under the Thermaltake name, including Team Thermaltake in Germany. The Tt eSPORTS team trains rigorously on the company premises each day to drive up Taiwan's competitive edge in the field.

"I think Taiwan stands in a very good position for design and to promote the e-sports lifestyle," said Liu. "That's how we see the growth potential of Tt eSPORTS as unlimited. Our mission is to create a cultural brand in e-sports, lifestyle, and technology."

Other companies highly involved in the gaming PC sector include PC chassis maker Lian Li and PC-maker MSI, which a survey of world-leading overclocking website HWBOT showed consistently ranked in the top 10 of graphic cards. Taiwan also possesses a wide range of firms that manufacture 3rd party CPU coolers as well liquid cooling kits, coolers for system memory and additional system fans.

Like Taiwan, Brazil is also seeing considerable growth in the PC gaming sector. According to Amsterdam-based market researcher Newzoo, Brazil gamers are expected to spend US$2 billion on games in 2011. Moreover, online and mobile gaming accounts for 68 percent of time spent gaming and 51 percent of spending.

"Brazil is leading Western countries when it comes to the popularity of new game platforms and business models," said Newzoo chief executive Peter Warman.

The growth in Brazil has been attributed to the uptake of social, mobile and massively multiplayer online games.

GIGABYTE	www.gigabyte.com
Thermaltake	www.thermaltake.com/home.aspx
Tt eSPORTS	http://www.ttesports.com/index.aspx
MSI	www.msi.com/
Lian Li	www.lian-li.com/

About Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA)

The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) was founded in 1970 to promote Taiwan's foreign trade and competitiveness in world markets. Over the past 40 years, TAITRA has played a key role in the development of the Taiwan economy. TAITRA is jointly sponsored by the government and commercial associations and is viewed by all as the business gateway to Taiwan for the international business community. Please visit www.brandingtaiwan.org or www.taiwantrade.com.tw for more information.

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SOURCE Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA)