PUBG Mobile might be all the rage but it appears that PUBG PC isn't far behind. Last week, Acer hosted the Predator League finals in Mumbai featuring PUBG Corp's battle royale sensation in what was one of the largest PUBG PC LAN tournaments for the country. While it might seem like Acer's attempt to legitimise e-sports, the reasons for selecting PUBG are far more simpler. Gadgets 360 caught up with Chandrahas Panigrahi, CMO and Consumer Business Head, Acer India to find out more.
Although PUBG's ascendance on PC has been remarkable[1], Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO[2]) has been the de facto choice for many a competitive gaming league. Choosing PUBG PC over CS:GO had more to do with PUBG[3] PC matches supporting upto 100 players at the same time versus five in competitive CSGO.
"Even though PUBG released just 12 months ago [out of early access], it's really caught up," Panigrahi says. "Because it supports 100 players, it allows more people to participate and that was the core criteria why we decided to go with PUBG. It helps in getting more people to understand what gaming is."
And getting more people to understand gaming is crucial for Acer[4] to widen its audience. The company claims to have a lion's share of the gaming market and titles like PUBG allow it to expand beyond its current users.
"People are graduating from mobile games to PC games," he says of a nascent section of Acer's audience. "We're close to about 30 percent of the gaming PC market, which is four to five percent of the total category. Consumers typically ask for machines that can handle multiple games like PUBG and Dota 2. Fortunately what's happening...