Virgin Media is to launch the UK’s first broadband tier aimed at online gamers.
“VIVID 200 Gamer” has been designed in collaboration with gaming organisations including leading UK eSports group, Gfinity. The new tier, launching on Thursday, will be an add-on to Virgin Media’s current top broadband package and will offer download speeds of up to 200Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps.
The connection is described as unlimited, meaning there will be no download caps, the operator also promising fewer pings and better latency. It will be priced at £5 per month above the VIVID 200 tariff which has download speeds of 200Mbps and upload speeds of 12Mbps.
Gregor McNeil Managing Director of Consumer at Virgin Media said: “VIVID 200 Gamer takes our leading ultrafast broadband to boss-mode levels. We understand the frustrations when it comes to lag, disconnects and bandwidth issues, so right from the start we wanted to design a tier that builds on our superior connectivity to give gamers and streamers what they need.
Recent Ofcom research has shown that in 2015, four in ten internet users (41%) have played games online, with close to one in four internet users doing so weekly (23%). This weekly gaming figure rises to almost four in ten internet users (39%) amongst 16-24 year olds.
