Western Digital Redefines The Next-Gen Gaming Experience with Expanded WD_BLACK Portfolio of Gaming Storage Solutions
With one of the world’s youngest population, India is poised to be among the top gaming markets globally. In their quest for an immersive experience, gamers are quickly graduating to PC-based gaming, as per the ‘Next-Gen Gamers’ research1 conducted by Western Digital. Excitement, fun, and challenge are the key motivators for PC gaming, however, more than half (57%) have cited slow storage as a key factor for poor game experience. To help gamers enhance their gameplay experience and adapt to the evolving gaming landscape heralded by the next generation of games, Western Digital introduced a series of new products under its WD_BLACK portfolio of storage solutions. These include the WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD, Western Digital’s first NVMe solid-state drive (SSD), and the WD_BLACK AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in-Card, each offering eye-catching RGB lighting options (Windows® only).
Additionally, Western Digital will also be introducing three new Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War-themed SSDs in early January 2021: the WD_BLACK™ Call of Duty®: Black Ops Cold War Special Edition SN850 NVMe SSSD, P10 Game Drive and P50 Game Drive SSD. These limited editions are designed for Call of Duty (COD) fans, and, as an added bonus, come with a free voucher to redeem COD points.”
A majority of gamers responding to the survey also highlighted slow game loading (51%) and bandwidth issues (51%) as main pain points. While slow storage remains the biggest bottleneck for fast game loading, gamers feel that RAM (52%), Graphics Card (43%), and Processor (41%) also have a role to play in the overall gaming experience. The ‘Next-Gen Indian Gamer’ survey reveals that for 59% of gamers slow loading times have impacted their gameplay. Two in every five gamers have made the unbearable decision of deleting their old titles due to running out of storage.
Khalid Wani, Director – Sales, India, Western Digital, said, “As the gaming landscape evolves and more immersive gaming titles emerge, gamers require higher performance to stay up-to-speed. Our latest WD_BLACK SSD portfolio is innovative and offers high-performance storage solutions, specially designed for the gamers to help them stay ahead of the game. We’ve optimized both internal and portable SSDs and these products not only provide more storage for gamers but elevate the gaming experience as a whole.”
Jaganathan Chelliah, Director – Marketing, India, Western Digital, said, “There is a strong sense of accomplishment amongst gamers as PC gaming allows them to express their creativity and provides an opportunity to learn. As PC gamers graduate from casual gaming to serious gaming, slow storage performance has become one of the key pain-points for them. Gamers need NVMe powered high-performance SSDs to enjoy demanding and immersive 3D games. Our WD_BLACK portfolio is designed to do just that! Our latest WD_BLACK SSD portfolio is purpose-built to allow gamers to meet the increasingly high standards of future games and gaming platforms.”
“The WD_BLACK SN850 NVMe SSD enables gamers to keep up with their high-performance needs with PCIe Gen4 technology and allows them to experience lightning-fast gameplay; and the WD_BLACK AN1500 NVMe SSD Add-in-Card offers them outstanding performance on a PCIe Gen3 interface” he added.
