Marking around six years in the retail industry, Dynacor IT & Gaming Solutions, are testament to the tenacity of the local gaming and esports scene. There have been many before that have dipped their toe into the industry, only to find it a tough scene to break, and looked for the nearest exit.
Dynacor is still going and growing, making them a retailer you should consider supporting. We decided to find out more about what makes them tick and why they have a continued interest in the local scene.
When did Dynacor IT & Gaming Solutions open for business?
Dynacor launched at the end of 2012 when I decided to leave my permanent employment to peruse my dream and passion for gaming.
Who are the main braaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnnnssss (or brain…) behind Dynacor?
I, Dwayne “KaoticZA” Mangiagalli do everything on the store from hand picking new products, brands, supplier’s partnerships to checking stock levels, customer queries and processing orders. My Wife, Ingrid Mangiagalli runs the social media side of things and together we form the Dynacor IT & Gaming Solutions team.
Is this your first experience in the gaming retail industry?
No, I’ve been working in IT Sales and Support since 2000 when I was grade 10 quoting, selling, building and repairing systems for consumers and gamers alike. I also worked at “PC Game & Computer World” in Century City as a technician back in 2004-2006. Since then I’ve been doing IT support for a couple IT companies in CPT, PTA and JHB.
Are you gamer yourself? If so, what’s your game(s) and platform of choice?
Yeah, I started PC gaming early in primary school and was my introduction into IT. We still networked 2 pc’s using serial (and later parallel) cable via Norton OS to create a peer to peer connection and jam your old school Decent 1, Duke Nukem, Doom, etc. games against your friend. Networking was just too expensive back then but gaming is life! I eventually got my hands on 2 coax network cards and a 60m coax cable that ran from my room window to my neighbour’s window and an intercom system to speak with each other. Never take Teamspeak or Discord for granted ever again! 🙂
I currently play Quake Champions and Overwatch competitively but I played Counter Strike since the beta release up until CS1.6 died out in 2006. I played for a couple teams back then like xTc, OBC, MoD, GL to name a couple. I used to play as COSTA, maybe someone remembers me. 😉
Give the readers a brief idea of the product range on offer at Dynacor IT & Gaming Solutions?
We mainly deal with local suppliers selling Gaming Peripherals, Chassis, Fans, Gaming chairs, Monitors, Controllers, Motherboards, Cpu’s, Hdd’s, Networking, Laptops, Thrustmaster Racing Gear etc. We try and cover each category with as much options as we possibly can add to ultimately build your dream PC. We also have some Drones and Smart-Home Solutions on offer.
What products and plans do you have for future expansion?
We add new products and brands on a daily basis and recently added Cooler Master to our list of Vendors. I am currently busy with Corsair and will be adding D-Link. Gigabyte, Samsung, Hisense, Logitech, LG and a couple more in the next couple of weeks. Future expansion is aimed at getting more involved with Esports events, tournaments, giveaways and MGO’s Support/Affiliation. We have hosted a number of Quake tournaments down in Cape Town for the last couple of years and I have some great plans and ideas for the future development of Esports in SA.
South Africa is not the easiest market to break into – what possessed you to take the plunge?
I have always had a dream to be involved with Gaming in a personal and professional capacity. From a young age it was clear that the Gaming scene would blow up especially if you kept up to date with the International scenes. I believe in doing what you love so I took the plunge into the gaming pit.
There are a few established retailers on the scene already, but what do you believe Dynacor IT & Gaming Solutions can bring to the table which sets it aside and gives gamers a reason to support the business?
There’s definitely a whole variety of physical and online retailers on the scene and I think there will be many more to come. I have seen many join the scene since 2012 and I truly believe this is only good for Esports development. Supporting local retailers puts us in a stronger position to throw back into Esports to ultimately make the whole scene stronger and evolve into what all of us envision it to be.
Gamers usually appear to be after the best deals and the best prices. Obviously, it’s difficult for smaller retailers to go head to head in a price war against the bigger retailers. What do you believe Dynacor IT & Gaming Solutions can bring to the table which sets it aside and gives gamers a reason to support the business?
Dyancor actually has a very different and unique mark-up structure on products to make sure we stay very competitive, if not the cheapest. We control each price point to make sure we are offering the best price we possibly can. The bigger retailers who warehouse stock has opportunity to get better pricing on their bulk orders which is where most of the incredible special deals come from but I feel all customers should shop around, compare pricing, engage with retailers, and build a relationship with the retailers they trust.
Do you believe the community has a big role to play in growing gaming in general? If so, what would you like to see the community do?
Yes, Definitely. Communities are the heart and soul of the gaming scene and without the community involvement the scene wouldn’t be where it is today and would not be growing at the rapid pace it currently is. I’d love to see different communities get more involved with each other. I think ZAGA does this really well by creating a platform for everyone to interact and get involved with more communities you wouldn’t have known about before. My gaming is 99% Multiplayer based and it is because of the social aspect the gaming communities bring to the table.
The South African gaming scene certainly appears to be on an upswing at the moment. What do you think is needed to sustain that growth?
More frequent and consistent Esports events, Tournaments and Leagues. We need 5 or so events to form the “Annual Majors” where the best compete for their share of the cash prizes on offer to stimulate Pro Esports in SA. We then still need the smaller ones around the major events to develop the scene and players to ultimately get them to the majors.
Thanks for your time – is there anything else you would like to add?
Only a pleasure! Thanks for the interview and finding out a bit more about Dynacor! Shout out to our Affiliates. Royal Elite Esports – a Competitive South African Multi-platform MGO Currently competing in Call of Duty WW2 and Battlefield 1 and Chris “stat1c” Clarke – a Competitive South African Quake Champions player, streamer and VS Gaming Caster.
Find the Dynacor team here:
Online Store | Twitter | Facebook | Affiliates
If you are keen to feature in this column in the future (as a gamer, clan or industry person or company), please feel free to contact us at info@zombiegamer.co.za and we’ll think about – after you’ve sent us a sample of your braaaaaaiiiiinnnnsss.
