TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

How much is PC gaming worth? Just what size industry are you supporting when you buy a new game? A pretty considerable one, with the PC Gaming Alliance stating that PC gaming raked in over $10.7 billion in 2007. That's a big chunk of change. More interesting than the large amount of money poured into PC gaming, though, is where specifically that money is coming from. Apparently less than a third of that actually came from people buy games off the shelves – but nearly half of it came from online gaming.

The subscription fee model is clearly working well for companies that employ it, with $4.8 billion of that 2007 figure being attributed to it. Another $2 billion was generated through digital distribution, such as Steam.

No matter which way you look at it, the sign is clear – PC gamers want to spend their money online more often than not, and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to hear that 2008 was the year in which digital distribution overcame retail.