Lenovo and Razer recently announced a plan to build
gaming PCs together. On the surface, this new
relationship looks good. Razer is a long-time specialist
in this field, and this popular PC gaming brand sponsors
numerous eSports teams and stars. Razer has even dabbled in
building swanky gaming laptops with its Blade range. However,
while the Blade systems have generally been well received by
the press, they’re expensive, only available in a few select
regions and as a result, they’ve sold in limited numbers.
This partnership with Lenovo brings huge buying power for
components, resulting in cheaper costs, and it also brings more
manufacturing capacity and global sales reach. Razer’s gaming
credibility and Lenovo’s large-scale manufacturing abilities
makes it look like a win-win partnership that
will enable both firms to compete with
established gaming laptop manufacturers.
However, Lenovo has little experience with
gaming gear, or with PC enthusiasts; it’s seen as
a maker of corporate steel and plastic boxes. You
use a Lenovo machine for spreadsheets, rather
than playing Splinter Cell. Meanwhile, Razer appeals to the
complete opposite end of the spectrum: a premium-focused
gaming brand that pays careful attention to design and spec,
crafting high-end (and often expensive) hardware. It’s hard to
see how the two brands will complement each other – Lenovo
doesn’t have much credibility in the world of PC enthusiasts
and gaming.
So, are these new systems going to be specced and designed
according to the acute gaming insights of Razer’s team, or will
they be Lenovo boxes sporting Razer badges? In the
announcement, the two companies said they planned to
‘co-brand and co-market special Razer Edition models of
Lenovo’s Y series gaming devices’, and that ‘Lenovo will employ
its system design and engineering expertise, while Razer will
enhance the immersive experience for gamers’. Oh dear, they’re
going to be Lenovo boxes with Razer badges.
Gaming and enthusiast credibility is really difficult to
establish. At least Alienware’s team is still fully independent of
Dell, but even then, how many Alienware machines are
seriously considered by PC enthusiasts, seen at LANs or talked
up enthusiastically online?
It’s the independent system builders, such as Scan and
Overclockers (to name just two), that are arguably a bigger
attraction to PC enthusiasts and top gamers. The value of a handbuilt,
fully considered system (both inside and out) that’s built
and designed by fellow enthusiasts, and constructed using
known and well-reviewed components, is a big
attraction. System builders follow trends
quickly; they’re trusted to put the kit together
properly, and their customer service is often
faster and more personal than the service from
a large corporation.
Comparatively, the recent announcement of
a deal between Overclockers and Game (see p15), bringing
OCUK’s gaming rigs to the high street, shows how such a
partnership could really work. OCUK has carved out plenty of
credibility among enthusiasts and gamers over the past 15 years,
as both an established system builder and component retailer,
while Game has been serving gamers on the high street for over
a decade. For me, what’s exciting about this deal isn’t so much
the potential for direct sales of OCUK PCs in high street stores,
but the idea that we can get properly built and stylish gaming
PCs into the view of the wider public, perhaps enticing console
gamers back into PC gaming. It’s a great opportunity to reach
out to a new generation of gamers, and boost interest in PC
gaming and its surrounding community
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