PC gaming grows 90% over the past 5 years.

[Cry Havoc]

http://techreport.com/news/24575/pc-...grew-8-in-2012

For years, analysts and forum dwellers have foretold the death of PC gaming. And they continue to be wrong. While PC sales might be slumping, the size of the gaming market is actually growing. The PC Gaming Alliance claims the market was worth $20 billion in 2012, an increase of 8% over the previous year and a whopping 90% over the past five years.

According to the non-profit group, there were over a billion PC gamers last year. More impressively, at least 250 million of those folks were "core" gamers playing "sophisticated strategy, action and role-playing" les rather than casual fare.

The Chinese gaming market is apparently growing more than any other. It was responsible for 34% of PC gaming revenue last year and enjoyed a growth rate of 9%. All the regions tracked by the PCGA experienced growth, though, including the US.

As one might expect, the changing nature of the computing landscape is having an effect on PC gaming. PCGA Executive Director Erik Noreke claims "The traditional desktop is no longer the gaming platform of choice as we are seeing more and more laptops with powerful GPUs and high end audio systems." Modern notebooks certainly handle newer games better than previous-generation systems did, especially when integrated graphics are concerned. I'd be curious to see how many of those "core" gamers are discarding desktops for notebooks; the percentage is probably much lower than for those who are just playing FarmVille.

The PCGA predicts the PC gaming market will continue to expand through 2016, when it will be worth a whopping $25.7 billion. Interestingly, the organization says the explosion of mobile gaming is helping the PC by driving "the growth of small self-funded teams that can develop more targeted products on a modest budget." So, the PC gaming market is supposed to continue to grow while increasingly being supplied by smaller, independent developers. Sounds healthy to me.

----

Man, it's too bad that consoles are the way of the future and that PCs are dead, otherwise this would mean something.

[Drachen]

http://techreport.com/news/24575/pc-...grew-8-in-2012

For years, analysts and forum dwellers have foretold the death of PC gaming. And they continue to be wrong. While PC sales might be slumping, the size of the gaming market is actually growing. The PC Gaming Alliance claims the market was worth $20 billion in 2012, an increase of 8% over the previous year and a whopping 90% over the past five years.

According to the non-profit group, there were over a billion PC gamers last year. More impressively, at least 250 million of those folks were "core" gamers playing "sophisticated strategy, action and role-playing" les rather than casual fare.

The Chinese gaming market is apparently growing more than any other. It was responsible for 34% of PC gaming revenue last year and enjoyed a growth rate of 9%. All the regions tracked by the PCGA experienced growth, though, including the US.

As one might expect, the changing nature of the computing landscape is having an effect on PC gaming. PCGA Executive Director Erik Noreke claims "The traditional desktop is no longer the gaming platform of choice as we are seeing more and more laptops with powerful GPUs and high end audio systems." Modern notebooks certainly handle newer games better than previous-generation systems did, especially when integrated graphics are concerned. I'd be curious to see how many of those "core" gamers are discarding desktops for notebooks; the percentage is probably much lower than for those who are just playing FarmVille.

The PCGA predicts the PC gaming market will continue to expand through 2016, when it will be worth a whopping $25.7 billion. Interestingly, the organization says the explosion of mobile gaming is helping the PC by driving "the growth of small self-funded teams that can develop more targeted products on a modest budget." So, the PC gaming market is supposed to continue to grow while increasingly being supplied by smaller, independent developers. Sounds healthy to me.

----

Man, it's too bad that consoles are the way of the future and that PCs are dead, otherwise this would mean something.

I bought a game in the last 5 years, Warcraft 3. I guess I am a part of that rise (since I hadn't bought a game since 99 before that).

[ElNono]

PC Gaming Alliance

Here's their PR where part of that was extracted from:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100596462

The PC gaming market suffers from living in the shadow of the console market, and even though sales, and number of units sold of gaming PCs is higher than the sales or units sold of consoles, console games outsell PC games. As a result of this imbalance, game developers are drawn to the DX9 world of consoles and then re-port their games to the PC. That leaves the PC with a game that doesn’t fully exploit all of the hardware capabilities the user paid for.



The PC gaming market is larger in hardware sales than the console gaming market, but few analysts or members of the press seem to know that, or care. Our basic definition of what cons utes a “gaming PC” is that it uses an x86 processor.

media conspiracy!


tbh, half of their PR is a sales pitch to pay up and become a member. No surprise companies like Activision, Blizzard, NVidia, Microsoft, etc all jumped ship...

[MannyIsGod]

Its too bad that you and I both know that PC gaming increase is due to like facebook games and not the games you'd like us to think it is. You're like some type of PC gaming warrior, CH. I don't get why you're always trying to convince everyone its so good if its actually so good.

[Cry Havoc]

Its too bad that you and I both know that PC gaming increase is due to like facebook games and not the games you'd like us to think it is.

It's both. PC has grown a lot through Facebook/etc, true, but also the infiltration of Steam into the gaming consciousness and the sales and unity they've brought to PC gaming have helped a lot too. It's pretty obvious that PC gaming is as healthy now as it's ever been, and probably moreso.

You're like some type of PC gaming warrior, CH. I don't get why you're always trying to convince everyone its so good if its actually so good.

Yeah, I mean, why would you ever argue that your favorite soccer team is better than someone else if they're really so good? Why bother debating anything if it's something you feel is accurate?

[Cry Havoc]

PC Gaming Alliance

Here's their PR where part of that was extracted from:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100596462

The PC gaming market suffers from living in the shadow of the console market, and even though sales, and number of units sold of gaming PCs is higher than the sales or units sold of consoles, console games outsell PC games. As a result of this imbalance, game developers are drawn to the DX9 world of consoles and then re-port their games to the PC. That leaves the PC with a game that doesn’t fully exploit all of the hardware capabilities the user paid for.



The PC gaming market is larger in hardware sales than the console gaming market, but few analysts or members of the press seem to know that, or care. Our basic definition of what cons utes a “gaming PC” is that it uses an x86 processor.

media conspiracy!


tbh, half of their PR is a sales pitch to pay up and become a member. No surprise companies like Activision, Blizzard, NVidia, Microsoft, etc all jumped ship...

True, not the most reliable source.

[Pop]

Lol growing in China where the government has been banning consoles for the past 12 years. What an achievement.

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertco...warcraft-gold/

Are these guys included in that growth?

[symple19]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertco...warcraft-gold/

Are these guys included in that growth?

Somebody posted this last year (or a similar article)

When Diablo3 came out, there were humanitarian issues raised with how it could be used for nefarious means (same farming issue)

Those wacky chinamen

[vander]

Never played any mmorpgs. How does gold in the game become $ in real life? I've heard of people selling their characters/accounts for nice chunks of money, is that what these chinamen are doing?

[leemajors]

Never played any mmorpgs. How does gold in the game become $ in real life? I've heard of people selling their characters/accounts for nice chunks of money, is that what these chinamen are doing?

yup

[Pop]

http://www.businessinsider.com/gamer...6-years-2013-3

There's a new poster child for China's growing problem with Internet addiction. His name is Li Meng and he has lived at an Internet cafe for six years.The story from Beijing Times, republished by Xinhua, describes how Li Meng spends nearly all of his time at the cafe near in China's Northeast city of Changchun, leaving only for food and the occasional shower.

Must be making his money from the internet, farming or something.

[symple19]

I believe the CIA has collaborated with the producers of MMORPGs to render the next several generations of Chinese helpless

[spurs_fan_in_exile]

I believe the CIA has collaborated with the producers of MMORPGs to render the next several generations of Chinese helpless

Beijing Protests Massing of UN Troops in South Korea as 'Act of gotry.'

[Reck]

Lol growing in China where the government has been banning consoles for the past 12 years. What an achievement.

Yeah who cares about freedom of choice. lol

[DJR210]

I'm one of the percentile..

PC gaming is much better..I invested in a beast of a machine, and now its paying for itself with the money I save on Steam.