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A couple of days ago I posted an article about how the Gaming PC as you know it is doomed to fail, and I have received many comments on it.
I have received many positive messages and a few negative ones. The negative reactions seem to be coming from other smaller PC companies. I would like to start by asking that instead of blindly flaming me and posting anonymous comments everywhere drop me an email or post a comment with your real name and company so we can talk about any issues you may have.
I have always held an open door of communication even with my direct competitors. I still receive emails and calls on a regular basis from many of the good boutique companies out there and have always considered possibilities of working together down the road.
I want to make sure a few things are clear: I wrote "I am not saying PC gaming is doomed, because it’s not—far from it—but the PC with four GPUs, a 2-kilowatt power supply, 16 gigabytes of memory, and a stack of hard drives is all but distant memory, at least for the PC gamer."
I stand by the above statement. We (Voodoo/HP) do not currently sell purpose built gaming PCs with such ridiculous requirements. While the Omen is expensive and extremely powerful - we still limit the hardware selections to stable reliable configurations simply because we ship these machines around the world and we don't want someone buying a desktop experiment. The Omen is not just a mish-mash of specs, therefore the price is not built up based on the hardware choices in the system. There is an extremely limited market for such a PC and only a few system builders can claim to play in that particular space. That said, I believe this market is getting smaller and smaller - especially in light of the current economic situation.
Many factors are bound to change the way we do business. Customers are way more dependant on technology than they once were - they expect more for less - they want things that are easy to use - most people don't like noise - and more and more people are concerned about the environment. There are also other external factors that are influencing their buying decisions.
I do believe the high end personal desktop will change - and you will see at least one new fresh direction in the extreme high end space later this year.
As well, I am convinced that the average performance PC needs to change directions. Much of the hardware has become extremely cumbersome and unreliable. It's time to take a step back and look at the big picture and re-think the way performance PCs are built. I'm speaking mostly to the small companies out there who work 24/7 to stay afloat - because I do believe there is a strong need for "boutique" companies to stay competitive in order to keep things interesting.
I also want to be very clear about something else. Voodoo started off as a one person operation. We built a very healthy and strong business over the years, starting by hiring friends - and friends of friends. I turned screwdrivers for years, I still build PCs for fun whenever I get a chance. I keep meeting new people at HP who say that Voodoo helped to change the way this company thinks about new product designs, and we're seeing more cool products come out from various areas of the company. Personally I respect anyone who has started from the ground and created something worthy of a name. Thus I would say that we are very supportive of small businesses and big thinkers.
I respect what small businesses have done for this industry. Small businesses fight to stay alive - good ones inspire and survive long term building incredible brands. Those that take advantage of their customers and bash their competitors rarely survive - but those who will do everything to help their customers and promote their strong points will stay strong.
We created a pretty cool new product that we're showing at CES in January. I can share more details later, but the bottom line is I'd love to see this style of product help to inspire a new standard of PC. When you see the form factor, when you see the way we laid it out, and the thought process that went into it you may be inspired to dream up new and unique designs.
In an ideal situation ATX would finally come to an end and a new form factor would take place. ...and even though we're a giant company and historically HP has done everything internally, I don't believe it makes sense for us to carry the weight of something like this ourselves. I believe if more people are interested in the vision then we should work together to help move the industry.
Anyways, I wanted to wish all of you, including the flamers, the best for 2009. It's going to be an interesting year - and I'm really looking forward to it. Once again my virtual door is always open, feel free to email me anytime and take care.
