PC gaming hardware market seeing amazing growth
NEW NUMBERS OUT today from market research outfit Jon Peddie (JPR) predict worldwide growth for PC gaming hardware shipments and regional market share to be “amazing”.
According to JPR total market value for PC gaming hardware in 2008 was just over $20 billion, a figure expected to shoot up to $34 billion by 2012, with the hardware pulling in an extra $6 billion in software and services sales.
The study reckons the Enthusiast segment of the gaming hardware market has a worldwide Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of nine per cent, the Performance segment is predicted to have a CAGR of 19 per cent and the Mainstream market, where the purchase motivation for gaming is about 6 percent, has a CAGR of 21 per cent.
The Peddie report apparently also warns hardware suppliers that not all countries have the same voracious appetite for PC gaming and they should take care when thinking about what hardware to send where. Asia/Pacific, however, is singled out as being the region with the largest market for gaming hardware.
A few trends noted by the boffins down at JPR include the shift to notebook gaming and a growing market for do-it-yourselfers, punters whol like fiddling around with their hardware and upgrading their PCs with high-performance gaming graphics boards. PC gaming also appears to be making headway against the console gaming market, with JPR claiming the high price of an HDTV for the console is proving too much of an investment in these uncertain economic times.
Also, says Ted Pollak, co-author of the report “"Enthusiast PC gamers often latch onto one or two games that offer multiplayer options and stick to these titles for years”. He adds that hardware is where gamers really spend the big bucks, and notes “retail software figures are not an accurate barometer for the health of the PC gaming industry." µ
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When people want to save money, they stay in - watch TV - and play games Seems only natural that they'd want the best kit to do that on Wonder how many UK properties (on the verge of repossession) are lit up right now with 42" HDTVs and the glow of Crysis being played on uber-PCs with 4870x2 cards ?...
Seriously who'd in their right mind bet against the PC? User configurable hardware that updates every 6 months, arguably better games with a more accurate interface, more versatile display/sound output options and it can actually be used for non entertainment tasks with ease. I don't think either format will ever 'win' or push the other out of existance, both consoles and PC's are here to stay in whatever form they take in the future.
Death to consoles! And why aren't there any more non widescreen LCD's anymore?
according to sources at motherboard makers. AMDs upcoming Phenom X4 20350 and 20550 CPUs will be renamed to Phenom II X4 920 and Phenom II X4 940 Black Edition, respectively. The launch date of the products will also be delayed from November this year to during CES 2009 in January next year. The companys 45nm AM3-based CPUs will also be renamed to the Phenom II X4 900, X4 800 and X3 700 series, and will launch in the second quarter of next year. AMD is also planning to launch a quad-core high-end CPU, Phenom II X4 945 Black Edition, in the second quarter next year along with the Phenom II X3 600 and Phenom II X2 200 series. Too BAd Cheap Unlocked Multiplier does ?Less Good. Item is to show similarity to previous Intel Numbers, yet 945 is preVista. I believe faster AMD Processors Run Better.Opps, believe thats 945 came when Intel was using tiered numbers & from(previous) next Gen.Must Be BAD Stuff! Drashek
Just as I bought my HD4870 1GB :P
...and then you read crap like this: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/michael-capps-part-two !! It annoys the hell out of me, how in one breath people say "PC gaming is dieing, piracy is killing it... blah blah blah" and then in the next hardware sales have increased AGAIN. Urgh! And that dude at Epic Games is seriously making me consider boycotting their games - because he's an ass with crap comments like that. Meh! Going off topic, will save the rant for another time ;)
There needs to be a place for everyone. I have nothing against people playing on consoles (they make for good target practice anyway ;-) ). Seriously though, the gaming industry needs as many gamers as it can get, and I can perfectly understand that there is a fair share of the population that has no desire to bother about buying, installing and learning about how to use a PC. Especially with all the "death to n00bs" idiots who think their brand of OS is the only way to go. Ugh, what am I saying ? We're talking about gaming, so the only brand that's worth anything on the market is Windows. And don't tell me you can dual boot. Yeah, I know you can, but a console user going for the hassle of learning 2 quirky OSes instead of just one ? Give me a break ! No, we need consoles for the mainstream users who require a system that is dedicated to games, and we need PC users to try out the new hardware and catch the glitches for the next generation of consoles. PC users do stay ahead in the hardware curve, but that is at the cost of compatibility headaches and driver issues, problems which consoles are not supposed to have (but hey, once MS got into the console game all bets were off on that point).
Console; -ves Clunky controller (vs Mouse & Keyboard) Single purpose Designed for living room Games more expensive Impossible to upgrade (replace only) +ves Plugs into existing TV Cheaper hardware PC; -ves Expensive Complex to setup & administer +ves Multi-purpose Designed for office/games room Possible to upgrade Decent controller I've tried every console out there and in Jan I will be buying a new games PC. Consoles are just too limited and I hate the controllers. Why use thumbs? They are the least mobile of all your digits! I will probably spend £1500 and get a machine that will be usable for 5 years. My last machine has lasted 5 years (AMD64 3400Mhz, 1Gb, ATI9800XT) and still gets regularly used to play HL2 and GTA:SA. New machine is for GTA4, Crysis, and FarCry2.