While everyone has been banging on about growth in the gaming console market that is dominated by Sony and Microsoft, new research suggests that hardware upgrades and peripherals used for PC gaming is where the real growth is and that this category is set to deliver double digit growth up to 2017.
According to a new study released by industry analysts Jon Peddie Research (JPR) the PC gaming hardware market is more than twice the size of the console gaming hardware market.
“We continue to see a shift in casual console customers moving to mobile. While this is also occurring in the lower end PC gaming world, more money is being directed to mid- and high-range PC builds and upgrades by gamers. Committed PC gamers are generally not interested in pure content consumption platforms” said Peddie.
“They are power users and pay thousands for the ability to play games at very high settings and then do business, video/photo editing, content creation and other tasks with maximum horsepower at their disposal in a desktop ergonomic environment.” he added.
The firm said it has identified more investment in gaming-oriented designs and more money spent on advertising to this group as major companies evaluate their marketing and R&D budgets.
Jon Peddie, president of JPR, said, “Nvidia, Intel and AMD have enthusiast CPUs and GPUs that are so powerful, when combined with SSDs and fast memory they absolutely trounce the computing power and gaming capabilities of the newest console generation.” He pointed out that some PC gaming systems will drive up to 3,840 by 2160 (4K) resolution at acceptable frame rates at the highest end, as the mass market is now pushing 2,560 by 1,440 levels. This means PC gamers realize “millions and millions of pixels more than console gamers get on HDTVs,” delivering the ability to “see more and a better gaming experience.”
Through 2017, JPR sees a PC gaming hardware market of diverse segments, with the high-end enthusiast segment focused on performance and style, while low-end users just want to play games on something, inviting a threat from cheaper gaming solutions.
