Origin PC is Building the Next Generation of Gaming Rigs

Want your own custom-built gaming PC or laptop? These are the guys to talk to.

Amidst the hustle and buzz of E3, I’m sitting at the MadCatz booth chatting with three gentlemen while around me gamers furiously click away at games or queue up near us to try out the latest consoles. Our conversation moves from talking about the biggest games of E3 to the latest advancements in GPU chipsets, to what their company is focusing on next. For these three guys, E3 this year has been a rollercoaster of a ride, and with some spare time on the last day, I decided I was long overdue for a catch up. They are none other than Eddy Piedra, Marketing Specialist, Jorge Percival, Product Group, and Kevin Wasielewski, CEO & Co-Founder. All three of them are from Origin PC, a brand that is blazing a trail in the PC gaming market.
It wasn’t long ago that so called industry pundits were claiming that the era of PC gaming was drawing to a close, and that next-generation consoles were going to be far superior that what a PC could ever offer. But time after time, this theory has been debunked, with PC gaming being as solid as ever, and capable of matching (and in some cases overpowering) what a console can offer.

Wasielewski is familiar with this myth, and doesn’t give it a second thought. “PC gaming is still going strong – look at some of the titles here at E3 that are being run on PCs. There will always be games for consoles, and there will always be games for PCs – it’s a no-brainer. The market for PC gaming will exist for as long as hardware can be built for it”
And it’s a market that Wasielewski and his team are more than comfortable with. After having worked extensively for Alienware manufacturing some of the most sought-after gaming laptops and desktops, he and a few of his Alienware counterparts founded Origin PC. Their goal was to offer gamers a completely custom-built gaming rig, whether in the form of a traditional tower PC or in a laptop (and more recently, in a small form factor).
It’s been a year since I sat down with Eddy Piedra and talked about the company’s plans, and it’s clear that things have only grown steadily since then. At E3 this year, Origin PC powered some of the biggest games at the most popular booths, including Warner Brothers, Electronic Arts, and MadCatz. It’s something Piedra and the team are massively proud of, and despite being a fairly young brand, it shows that industry leaders have faith in them. And that faith isn’t unfounded – Piedra describes a recent order that was given for 300 PCs with just under a month’s notice. Despite the short time, the entire order was fulfilled in time, with every PC being built from scratch and tested thoroughly. Each PC even had its own OS installation and configuration from scratch, rather than the drives being clones of each other. “We didn’t want to take any risks or shortcuts. We’re committed to delivering quality and that’s what we stuck to.” The result? Only one of the machines actually failing due to a hardware problem from a faulty power supply, which was immediately replaced by a backup unit.

(L-R) Kevin Wasielewski, Jorge Percival, and Eddy Piedra

Of course, the company does face a challenge in being recognized in a market dominated by older and more familiar brands. Consumers tend to find the company either through word of mouth referrals or by searching online, and Jorge Percival is committed to ensuring that when consumers want a gaming setup, they come to Origin PC. For them, it’s not about copying the next leading brand, but rather sticking to a formula that works for both the company and the consumer. “If we wanted to, we could go out and make a PC just like any other brand. We could totally do it” says Percival.  “But that’s not us – we want to offer our customers the freedom to customize their PC with whatever they want. Liquid cooling? Done. The latest processors and graphics cards? Done. A 24/7 support network that responds directly to your questions? Done. It’s all about making it easy for the customer to pick and choose what they want while still giving them quality products at an affordable price.”
Quality seems to be the mantra that drives the company’s passion, and it’s this dedication to quality that has now made Origin PC a familiar name for gamers. And while the company is based in the United States and doesn’t outsource any of its manufacturing or support, it is considering expanding to other parts of the globe. “We’re a small company,” adds Piedra, “so we’re taking things slowly. If we wanted we could go and setup deals with suppliers around the globe, but we want to do things right. So we’re taking things one step at a time and figuring out which markets to target and in which order.”
For now however, it’s a recipe for success. The company has seen certain models in their lineup become customer favorites, so it’s clear that their user base is expanding with every PC or laptop they ship. Wasielewski even informs me that they’ve fulfilled a number of orders from customers in Dubai, so there doesn’t seem to be any corner of the globe that they aren’t set to conquer.
You can find out more about Origin PC and check out their latest configurations on offer at originpc.com.