News Overclockers UK teams up with Game for high-street PC sales

I've noticed peripherals creeping in toeven the small Game outlet where I live. It's quite amusing when I think to years ago when PC games made up for a fairly large percentage of floorspace and how that was slowly reduced to just a few shelves.

Is this a new revival of PC gaming on the highstreet (and to the masses) or just a chance for a couple of companies to make an extra few quid. Maybe a bit of both.

 

I really hope this works out for them as for PC gamers this might just make it so we can get replacement parts or upgrades without having to factor in shipping and at the time we want.

It would be awesome to be able to go to Game and pick up some ram or a new ssd from a high street shop and not have to worry about paying the incompetence tax that PC world or Maplin charge

 

From the opening sentence: "Overclockers UK has announced has announced that it is dipping its toes . . ."

 

Interestingly enough, I sort of think that consoles and mobile games have been a real help here. They've done a great job of getting lots of people playing games, and thus making them socially acceptable. This IMO has helped many PC games get a real foothold in the casual market (defining casual as people not willing to shell out for high end systems). Games like DOTA2, LoL, Minecraft and CSGO can run on nearly any machine nowadays, so they're very accessible. Pair that with the rise of Youtube and Twitch and suddenly we have a large market with lots of reach.

PC gaming went through a serious phase of being seen as a niche, now it's super mainstream thanks to its overall accessibility. As such, it sort of doesn't surprise me to see it making its way back onto the high street.

 

So, who wants to go into a GAME shop and see what GPU they recommend for high-end gaming?

 

I still remember gawking at early 3D accelerator cards on the shelves of Electronics Boutique, long before that particular store became a Game store...

Holy****sticks that was a long time ago....

 

Yep same here. Then it all went DSG *shudder*

 

Low requirement massively played games like League Dota and mine craft are a large part of PC gaming revival. League of legends was even shown on BBC in the uk.

 

I can see this being a trend for people to try "alternative to consoles..." or it could be a way to rival e-retailers monopoply on higher-end supplies in comparison to PC World and Maplins. Which, if you think logically is a great move. Can you imagine being able to walk to a store and pick up pretty decent hardware. Of course on the other hand, all of this will come at a mark up. So in the short-term it will be good to see the % change in prices from common e-retailers... and the variety of products made available.

It's a step in the right direction, but with logistics and operations increasing at an expanding rate... this move might have come too late for the physical aspect of selling.

 

I imagine anyone buying hardware from OCUK through a Game store can kiss goodbye to OCUK's historically very strong customer service. I do hope they don't lose sight of their roots....

 

TEESSIDE, not Teeside.

Many Thanks.