The COVID-19 pandemic had caused lockdown in all markets in the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ) region throughout 2020, and it had helped to create opportunities for many consumer technologies – especially gaming-related devices (PCs and Monitors).
According to the IDC Worldwide Quarterly Gaming Devices Tracker, Q4 2020, the gaming PC market (Desktops and Notebooks) and monitor market in the APeJ region posted a 12.3% year-over-year (YoY) increase in 2020 – reaching 21.7M units.
“With many consumers being stuck at home for a large portion of 2020, gaming became one of the main sources of entertainment – this had helped to drive up demand for gaming devices. However, supply constraints on LCD panels, integrated circuits, and graphics processing units (GPUs) meant that PC supplies were incapable of keeping up with the high demand,” says Yexi Liao, Market Analyst for Gaming & Virtual/Augmented Reality research at IDC Asia/Pacific.
The gaming PC market grew by 4.9% compared to 2019, and gaming notebooks were the key product that contributed to the growth. Gaming notebook shipments grew by 16.1% and reached 9.7M units in 2020, with demand coming from both gaming and secondary usage demand for work-from-home and online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Desktops, on the other hand, recorded a 6.6% decline as iCafe demand dropped significantly in markets such as PRC, South Korea, and the Philippines due to a prolonged period of forced shut down in business operation caused by the pandemic.
The gaming monitor market grew by 52.6% YOY in 2020, with growth in shipment volume mainly from 27″ W and 1920X1080 resolution gaming monitors. While gaming monitors with a 144 Hz refresh rate were still the main shipment contributor in the region, gaming monitors with a 165 Hz refresh rate grew significantly with YOY growth of 400.6%, as gamers continued to upgrade their appetite for higher refresh rate monitors. While all markets in the region experienced YOY growth, the markets with the highest growth in 2020 were Malaysia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Australia, and India.
APeJ Gaming Device Forecast by Product Category, 2020-2025 (shipments in millions) |
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|
Product Category |
2020 Shipments |
2021 Shipments* |
2025 Shipments* |
2020-2025 Shipments CAGR |
|
Desktop |
7.5 |
8.0 |
7.5 |
0.1% |
|
Monitor |
4.5 |
5.8 |
7.7 |
11.1% |
|
Notebook |
9.7 |
11.1 |
14.0 |
7.6% |
|
TOTAL |
21.7 |
24.9 |
29.2 |
6.1% |
|
Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Gaming Device Tracker, 2020Q4 |
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Note: All figures are rounded off, * are forecast numbers. |
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IDC expects that even after the pandemic and personal devices demand returns to normal for the APeJ region, the gaming market should continue to experience growth. While demand will continue to shift from gaming desktop to gaming notebook, it does not suggest that gaming monitors will decline in demand. On the contrary, the growth of gaming as a culture in the APeJ region will result in a higher demand for gaming monitors, with gamers shifting towards multi-screen setups, whether it is attached to a desktop or a notebook. IDC expects Gaming PC and Monitor shipments to grow by 15% in 2021, as the pandemic lockdown extends for various markets in the region and gaming continues to grow as a main source of entertainment for consumers.
Supplies of gaming PCs and monitors had been a concern in 2020 as there had been hoarding of PCs with high-end GPUs for cryptocurrency mining and a shortage of components. However, the supply shortage should ease in 2021 as the global backlog begins to clear and normalization of device replacement cycles starts to take place for markets where the pandemic situation is better managed,” ends Liao.
