Why California isn't banning gaming PCs (yet)

The state isn’t banning them outright, but there are concerns.

- GORDON MAH UNG

Have you heard? California just banned gaming PCs! Yes, they took your job (go.pcworld. com/tkjb), and now they’re taking your gaming PC too!!! (The abundance of exclamation marks indicates the sense of outrage.)

Well, that’s what you’d think if you read a headline that screamed: “Several US States Are Banning Gaming PCs” (go.pcworld. com/bnpc) or “High-End Gaming PCs Banned in Six US States after California Energy Bill Limits Sales on High Performance PCs” (go.pcworld.com/bn6s).

This all kicked off when Alienware put notices on its website (go.pcworld.com/alnt) of certain model desktop PCs that cannot be sold in California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Hawai‘i, and Vermont, due to “power consumption regulations adopted by those states. Any orders placed that are bound for those states will be cancelled.”

THIS HAS BEEN COMING FOR A LONG TIME

While we’re surprised Alienware had to take this step, the reasons why are actually not new. I had looked into this way back in 2018, after two PC companies told me the end was nigh in California due to the regulations that had been passed in 2016. I waded through hundreds of pages of California Energy Commission reports and meeting minutes. On the face, it did sound like California’s strict power regulations would end most desktop PC sales in California on July 1, 2019.