According to the latest survey, in 2018, the shipment of e-sports LCD monitors (defined by WitsView as a refresh rate above 100Hz) is expected to reach 5.1 million units, a growth of 100% compared to last year.
In recent years, the e-sports industry has developed vigorously, and e-sports games have been included in the Asian Games demonstration event, which has continued to boost the gold content of the PC industry and also stimulated the demand for peripheral equipment upgrades. In 2017, the popular game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds increased the refresh rate of LCD monitors to 144Hz, driving a wave of Internet cafe replacements in the Chinese market. Displays with high refresh rate specifications are gradually being favored by ordinary e-sports players.
Judging from the ranking of e-sports display manufacturers’ shipments, in 2018, as many LCD display brands seized the highly profitable e-sports display market, coupled with the best-selling cost-effective curved e-sports displays, this year, except for the top two brands’ shipment rankings, In addition to the changes, the rankings of other brands have all suffered a major reshuffle.
ASUS has maintained its leading position in e-sports display shipments this year. In addition to continuing the market’s No. 1 sales in the past few years, ASUS has also helped ASUS maintain its leading position in the e-sports market by continuously launching innovative products and increasing investment in the e-sports market.
The second-ranked Acer has expanded its e-sports product line with a comprehensive layout ranging from professional players to ordinary players. Acer, which started slower than Asus and BenQ, began to catch up in 2017. Its shipment volume last year has surpassed BenQ to take second place, and in 2018 it is even closer to Asus, and it is in a position of second best.
The third-ranked AOC/Philips e-sports brand management has achieved results, and it has also promoted the exposure of e-sports related products. This year's gaming models focus on cost-effective curved products, which will help sales growth. In addition to the Chinese e-sports market, AOC/Philips has also made breakthroughs in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region.
Samsung's ranking has risen from fifth to fourth last year. Its gaming monitors are dominated by cost-effective curved products, and there are layouts for full-size products. This year, the proportion of its curved gaming product shipments has exceeded 95%.
In terms of the overall market situation, the proportion of curved gaming products in 2018 has officially surpassed that of flat products, mainly because SDC's curved gaming panels benefited from the booming demand in the Chinese market. At the same time, SDC is also willing to continue to make profit to stimulate demand, which in turn will drive the year-round shipment of curved gaming products to jump. The rise of curved e-sports monitors has also made late-coming monitor brands such as MSI and HKC deliver outstanding performance this year.
