PC gaming hardware market continues to grow despite rising competition

[Shawn Knight]

Naysayers have been predicting doom and gloom for the PC gaming market for several years and with the advent of mobile gaming, the post-PC era and continued popularity of consoles, it seemed like a feasible prediction. The only problem, however, is that those predictions were wrong. Those looking for proof that PC gaming is still alive and kicking needn’t look any further than the latest report from Jon Peddie Research.

The latest report serves as an adequate follow-up to the group’s late 2011 study that predicted PC gaming hardware sales would reach $19 billion by year’s end. For 2012, the researchers are predicting total sales of $23.6 billion and by 2015, the market will be responsible for $32 million in sales.

Strong demand will fuel growth over the coming years, especially in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) countries where systems, accessories and upgrades are expected to near $4.7 billion in 2012 and $7.7 billion in just three years.

Peddie Research expects to see the average selling price for some components to drop in 2013 as competition rises. This is good news for the consumer and unit shipments are expected to continue to rise, trumping any dip that would otherwise show up as a result of the lowered prices.

The study seems on par as PC gamers have a wealth of titles to look forward to this year and into 2013, including but not limited to Diablo III, Max Payne 3, Crysis 3, Far Cry 3, World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria and Borderlands 2.

Data for the study was gathered from 33 countries and covers notebooks, desktops, DIY systems and accessories.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/48449-pc-gaming-hardware-market-continues-to-grow-despite-rising-competition.html

 

[oldikes]

"the researchers are predicting total sales of $23.6 billion and by 2015, the market will be responsible for $32 million in sales."

shouldnt that say 32 billion?

 

[Guest]

Whatever.

The best gaming titles are (wait for it) NOT on the PC.

Go figure.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

I like the starcraft picture.

 

[Guest]

I like how CoD isnt even mentioned. I likey you TechSpot!

 

[Burty117]

Why was Crysis 3 mentioned?! We already know where that is going...

 

[Guest]

Gaming console and smartphones will never replace the pc!!! Pc is more Convenient in all his aspects more power,upgradeble etc!!!

 

[Guest]

All of my spare money goes to upgrading my gaming pc. What can I say? I'm a cool guy like that

 

[Mister_K]

All of my spare money goes to upgrading my gaming pc. What can I say? I'm a cool guy like that

Sure are Sir.

Keep it up, don't let PC gaming die to those puny little consoles. On other hand possibly slightly lower prices of PC hardware would make things even better

 

[amstech]

I've been doing this since the Voodoo Banshee released, my first aftermarket GPU and the first 3DFX GPU to offer 2D and 3D on one card.
I've watched the market/following grow since then and I hate all these darn noobies talking like they've been in the game for awhile when thier first GPU was a 7800GTX or something! Your a rookie rookie!

Half Life 3 is the game I cannot wait for.

 

[ElShotte]

Yeah. I've been PC gaming since like 1997, and that's if you don't count a Commodore 64. I had a 100 Mhz P1 Compaq, 1 Gb HD and 8 Mb of RAM which got outdated fast. My second computer was an iMac. That computer was a beast. It outperformed PC's in it's class (I remember it beating a P3 700 Mhz). It had a 450 Mhz G3 CPU, Rage 128 8 Mb video card, at first 64 Mb of RAM which I upgraded to 192, and I believe the stock HD was either 10 or 20 Gb, which got replaced by an 80 Gig one. That was the first computer I ever took apart, didn't read a manual, didn't see no youtube dis-assembly videos. Just got a screw driver set and started tinkering. It was a pain in the *** too being an all-in-one. Since then I went through countless builds, although I haven't really done anything new in a while but I think it will soon be time. Don't get me wrong, it's just that since the release of Xbox 360 and PS3, not many games came out that push the PC to the limit, so even on my current C2Q Q6600 @ 3.0 Ghz and a GTX 260, there was only literally a handful of games I couldn't max out and get very playable framerates up until about 6 months ago. When they release the new platforms, there will be a boom in parts sales because they'll start porting next-gen console games that will require hardware to match... and then months going forward, that all will decrease since PC hardware will have yet again surpassed the consoles.

 

[Burty117]

Half Life 3 is the game I cannot wait for.

+1 a million times, cannot wait for that

 

[stewi0001]

boy there are a lot of "3s" XD

 

[Guest]

Elshotte,

"[FONT=Helvetica]When they release the new platforms, there will be a boom in parts sales because they'll start porting next-gen console games that will require hardware to match... and then months going forward, that all will decrease since PC hardware will have yet again surpassed the consoles."[/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica]Agreed. That's why PC gamers with GTX570/HD6950 or faster have no reason to upgrade until 2014. When next generation of consoles launch, GTX680/HD7970 will get crushed by next generation of games. Also, a $500 GPU by then (HD9000 or GTX800 series) will make GTX690 look weak. [/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica]But I think the console makers made a huge mistake waiting that long to replace current consoles. In the last 2-3 years whoever built their PC had superior graphics without having to get anything faster than an HD6850/6870. Now those users have a working PC they can keep upgrading over the next 7-8 years. It's going to be very difficult for MS and Sony and Nintendo to convince those users to buy consoles now. And there are still 2 solid years before PS4 and Xbox next launch, meaning more and more people will build a PC. Good for us, bad for console makers. They waited too long. [/FONT]

[FONT=Helvetica][/FONT]

 

[TS-56336]

Because of this, I'm urged to buy more copies of games for the PC. Perhaps this year. My resolution.

 

[Guest]

just because people are buying more hardware does not mean that they are paying for the games that they are playing on the pc.in some countries most of the pc games that people play are pirated.