Tyler “Ninja” Blevins broke the internet with his Fortnite battle against Drake. Now he’s partnered with hardware manufacturer NZXT to make PC gaming more accessible. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for Esports Arena Las Vegas)
For many gamers, building a PC is a right of passage. The PC-gaming community is a bit elitist, and for good reason — in esports, PCs are the gold standard — many gamers smirking down from above at those who play only on consoles.
NZXT wants to change that.
The computer hardware manufacturer is focused on building systems to make PC gaming more accessible, and they see a recent partnership with streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins as a step towards greater PC accessibility.
Every major esport at the competitive level is played on PC, and while there are some exceptions, games generally run better on computers than they do on game consoles like the PS4 and Xbox One.
There are plenty of reasons for that. To start, the frames per second (FPS) on PC are higher; most console games are capped at 30 or 60 FPS. For PCs, that limit doesn’t exist.
In addition, the primary control system for PCs is mouse and keyboard, instead of a traditional controller. It is much easier and more accurate to aim with a mouse than with a joystick. That’s why, even though Fortnite has a massive console and mobile player-base, if Fortnite eventually becomes an esport, it will be played on PC.
Enter Ninja.
He was the talk of the gaming world after he streamed Fortnite with Drake, Travis Scott and Pittsburg Steeler’s WR Juju Smith-Schuster. The stream broke Twitch’s individual record for peak unique viewers with 635,000 watching the action.That buzz carried Ninja on social media. In March he was the third most talked about athlete in any sport. He trailed only LeBron James and Christiano Ronaldo and was just ahead of Lionel Messi and Conor McGregor.
Naturally, Ninja has his pick of hardware sponsorships. But According to NZXT CEO Johnny Hou, one of the reasons he choose to work with NZXT was because of the company’s efforts to improve PC accessibility.
“We want to be part of his journey and have a deeper partnership than just a logo on his stream.” Hou said. “One of the things he liked was the BLD service — you select the game you want to play and a budget and we give you a possible build. There is a high learning curve to get into PC, we want to lower that and make it more accessible.”
Ninja is a competitor first. Even if he loved NZXT’s mission, if their PC wasn’t up to his competitive standards, the partnership would not work.
“PC building is similar to how cyclists will change a small part of their bike to gain an edge. You buy a better graphics card to enhance your ability. That provides an advantage in PC performance,” Hou said. “We have customers looking for that extra 5-10 FPS or another 1-2 degrees in cooling. Better mice with higher DPI [dots per linear inch] and higher sensitivity. That’s all part of what it means to play games on PC because all these things are upgradeable and changeable.”
When teams sign deals with hardware manufacturers, all gamers typically play on the same model. Hou believes this could be a missed opportunity for added personalization by play style. He likened the possibilities to a legendary company that built its legacy working directly with athletes.
“I recently finished reading [Phil Knight Autobiography] Shoe Dog. If you think about the way Nike has worked with athletes over the course of its history, that is possibly a path organizations could take,” Hou said.
Nike lore tells us that Bill Bowerman made track shoes for his Oregon track team by pressing rubber in a waffle iron. Effectively using his runners as test subjects, he worked tirelessly to improve their performance.
The same ingenuity could take place in the esports industry and lead to an arms race, especially given the massive cost of graphics cards. Large organizations like Cloud 9 and Team Liquid may see competitive advantages through the system and controls with which they play.
