The Arespear Series: Konami’s First Foray Into the High-End Gaming PC Market

Back in 2016, Konami’s Amusements division made headlines when they released a pachinko machine version of the company’s beloved Metal Gear game. It wasn’t very well received by fans who consider the game to be a virtual masterpiece.

Today, that same company division is making headlines again following the release of their new product line. It’s called Arespear, and it’s a series of high-end gaming computers being sold by Konami. And the Arespear series is being well received by fans and critics in a similar way to when they released their Konami pachinko machines. So is selling gaming PCs a move in the right direction for the company?

First things first: if you want in on this action, you’ll need $1,750 (¥184,000) for the cheapest model, while the ones with the most cutting-edge specs will set you back by around $3,205 (¥338,800). In PC Gamer’s report on the new Arespear series, the product line starts with the Arespear C300 and its i5-9400F processor and GTX 1650. This lower-cost model also has 8GB of DDR3-2666 RAM, plus a 512GB SSD. That’s the cheapest package.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for something with a water-cooled i7-9700 processor, you’ll be happier with the Arespear C700 and its RTX 2070 Super, 16GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, 512GB SSD, and an additional 1TB hard drive. And if you’re really looking to burn some cash, you can go all out and get the Arespear C700+. For $210 (¥22,000) more than the C700, you can outfit this sweet gaming rig with a windowed case and RGB lighting. Although the difference between the C700 and C700+ is just cosmetic, there’s no denying its value, especially among specialist collectors of either Konami merchandise or unique gaming PCs.

So, even though existing rigs like the Corsair One i164 and Alienware’s Aurora R11 are arguably more reasonable buys, there’s undoubtedly a market that will soon snatch up these brand new, highly collectible, and historic Arespear Konami gaming computers. In fact, commercially speaking, the timing of Konami’s new products is just right. It’s riding on the heels of a domestic surge in PC shipments in Japan earlier this year. So while Konami’s new product line might be confusing to some, it could also be the company’s best merchandising decision this year.

Much like Konami’s previous releases of pachinko machine versions of games like Metal Gear and Silent Hill, this seemingly strange foray into new ground is most likely a calculated corporate decision by company executives. In fact, pachinko machines continue to be the most popular gambling activity here, which as ExpatBets’ country info guide to Japan notes is due to the fact that they are regarded as ‘recreational games’ instead of being associated with casinos. And despite taking losses from the global health crisis, the pachinko industry continues to be a billion-dollar domestic Japanese market, which also describes Japan’s domestic market for desktop gaming PCs. In short, Konami knows what they’re doing.

Whether you love or hate the company, their new Arespear gaming PCs are here to stay. And we can most likely look forward to more Konami products in this direction.