World Wide

Canada

United States

United Kingdom

France

Germany

Russia

Sweden

Norway

Denmark

Overclockers’ Partnerships and Relationships Manager talks building communities and telling it straight
<img src="https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/2085555/01.19.21%20OCUK%20Article/OCUKHeadline.png" alt="" />
Despite being renown for producing top of the range PCs for a niche clientele of enthusiastic gamers, Overclockers caters for gamers at all levels of experience and is home to one of the largest tech forums in the UK. 
Andy Welsh, Partnerships and Relationships Manager at Overclockers reckons there are at least “1000 odd” people online on its forum even during working hours which for something as niche as enthusiast-level PC gaming is “quite an admirable figure”.
Being part of the gaming community is important to Andy and the rest of the Overclockers team. They attend events, as well as sponsor them, always on the lookout for talented gamers to work with and support. “We’re community-centric,” says Andy. “We don’t do things just for an outward appearance. We want to be invested.”
That commitment was evident during the first COVID-19 lockdown as Overclockers had agreed to support epic.LAN, an independent community esports tournament organiser, with its in-person event. Epic 30 which took place in July 2020 was forced online but Overclockers stayed true to its commitment and even agreed to sponsor again in the coming year. 
“We enjoy being there, we enjoy doing it and we just we want to stretch our legs more at that event,” says Andy of the event. “It’s good to get involved.”
<img src="https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/2085555/01.19.21%20OCUK%20Article/Employees.png" alt="" />
When looking to support up-and-coming gamers, Andy looks at the temperament of the gamer and their community. Overclockers recently worked with Sizzarz, providing her with a PC when hers was on its last legs. She and MC Fixer now both have new Overclockers gaming PCs. The reason for the sponsorship, according to Andy, is they are “nice people who are grateful, humble and people who we would want to advocate for Overclockers UK.” 
Return on investment is also a factor in sponsorship, but having a supportive community of fans is just as important. A supportive community, according to Andy, is welcoming to newcomers, no matter how recently they became a fan, they are happy when their gamer gets a deal or gifts, and will be patient if their fave has to take some time off for whatever reason. When Sizzarz had to take time out recently her community was waiting for her when she returned.
Of course, cultivating its own community and supporting talented gamers are not the only things that Overclockers do. The company composes and sells a wide range of performance PC gaming hardware, catering to everyone from the novice to the enthusiast. The company’s 8PACK-narrated explainer videos for the not-yet-technical buyer helps customers better understand what they are buying, and the components that go into a PC or console. 
Honesty and a willingness to be upfront with customers is important to Andy, he says: “We'll never tell people how to spend their money. But if somebody comes in and says ‘I want top of the line for my kid’ and the kid will only play Fortnite, we'll say ‘Okay, you can do that or you can spend a third and this is what you can get’”. 
He’s found this approach great for generating customer loyalty as they will often come back for an upgrade and even approach members of the Overclockers team when they see them at events. There’s also the three-year warranty as standard to ensure customer satisfaction.
As well as honesty, a unique selling point of Overclockers is the expertise the team has in the PC market, built over the decades since the company was founded in the late 1990s the team brings a lot of knowledge and know-how to the table.
For the top 1% of enthusiast gamers, Overclockers has a flagship range that it developed with Ian Parry, aka 8PACK. A step down from that is the Inifin8 range. “It’s cherry-picked hardware,” explains Andy. “When you buy that sort of tier of performance it's like buying a high-end sports cars like a Ferrari or Lamborghini.” The PC range with 8PACK came out after the gamer retired unbeaten and turned his attention to developing real-world products.
There is a lot of pride in Overclockers ability to be one step ahead of its competitors. Andy cites the use of hardline while everyone else was still doing complex, soft tubing for water cooling. Now that others have woken up to hardline, Overclockers has moved on to bespoke custom acrylic pass-throughs. 
The innovation continues with the company recently investing in a UV printer capable of printing cases and potentially even gaming chairs. “We want to grow what we can do as a company and what we can provide as a service, not just to customers but also to businesses so they can get bespoke one-of-a-kind PCs.”
Customer loyalty and cutting-edge technology in addition to knowledgeable, straight-talking staff, along with acquisitions and partnerships have seen Overclockers go from strength to strength. “We've grown from being a small fish in a big pond to being a relatively big fish in a big pond,” says Andy explaining that Overclockers was acquired by Caseking in 2012 and is now part of Pro Gamers Group. 
Overclockers has a long-standing partnership with Intel and there is brand affinity between the two with Andy saying: “Intel’s attitude towards customers seems to align with our own.”
As for the future, the aim is for Overclockers to keep getting bigger and better, constantly improving its services and offerings. With the gaming PC market set to <a href="https://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-gaming-pc-market-is-set-to-grow-25-by-2024/">grow 25% by 2024</a>, it seems the media’s periodically predictions of PC gaming’s death may be premature.

Despite being renown for producing top of the range PCs for a niche clientele of enthusiastic gamers, Overclockers caters for gamers at all levels of experience and is home to one of the largest tech forums in the UK.

Hardware for the people: How Overclockers is catering to pros and newcomers alike