Dell Gets Behind Alienware for Gaming PC Push

Dell is dumping its popular XPS line of gaming PCs so it can focus exclusively on the once-hot Alienware brand it acquired in 2006, the Wall Street Journal reports. The PC giant is in the midst of a full turnaround push, having fallen behind arch-rival HP, so it’s hoping the overdue-but-risky move will once again vault Alienware to the top of the $12 billion gaming-PC market.

The market for high-end gaming machines is comparatively small, but it often shapes mainstream trends. Alienware once epitomized the category, but it “lost some mojo” under Dell, according to one analyst. Now Dell intends to put all its marketing might behind the brand, while retooling its signature colorful look, which one executive called “passé.” (More Dell stories.)