Jon Peddie Research (JPR), said that the global PC Gaming Hardware market has breached the $30 billion mark for the first time.
Comprised of pre- and DIY- built gaming computers, upgrades, and accessories such as displays, input devices and audio systems, the market exceeded $30 billion in 2016 and is forecast to grow at a 6% CAGR through 2019.
Due to an entrenched PC gaming culture, large population, and lack of significant console traction, the Asia Pacific Region leads the world in both growth and market size with a forecast 7% CAGR to 2019 from a value of almost $11.3 billion in 2016. India claims the largest growth rate in the Entry-Level (sub $1000) segment and is forecast for an eye watering 28% CAGR; breaking through the billion mark across all segments in the next few years. North America and Western Europe both individually lead Asia Pacific for High-End gaming systems (over $1800). Germany is forecast to enjoy impressive growth in High-End, reaching $1.6 billion in sales in 2019 and Russian gamers are forecast to consume Mid-Range Hardware at an 8.65% CAGR through 2019.
Ted Pollak, Senior Game Industry Analyst for JPR said, “Consumers continue to embrace the PC for video games due to multiple factors. The desktop ergonomic is popular because of superior detail using most HD and UHD monitors, and unrivalled control with mouse and keyboard interface. This has been validated with eSports overwhelmingly being played on PCs. Additionally, product designers have created thousands of options for complete customization from a functionally and aesthetic perspective. Examples include dedicated driving and flight systems, multi-display setups, and a wide selection of notebooks ranging from desktop substitutes to innovative ‘thin and light’ offerings. Liquid cooling, advanced PSUs, SSDs, genre specific gaming mice, mechanical keyboards, notebook graphics amplifiers and Xbox accessory compatibility offer gamers more choices than they have ever had.”
Jon Peddie, President of JPR, said, “PC gaming is so successful because it allows all levels of customers to participate including those with lower budgets. Nvidia and AMD are not ignoring this opportunity, and offerings like the GTX 1050 bring powerful graphics processing for around $120. We are very excited about the prospects for the AMD Ryzen CPU platform and think it will be adopted at all three hardware tiers. Of course Intel CPUs currently offer amazing performance for gamers of every budget level and their integrated graphics can rival game consoles.”
Nevertheless, a key phenomena JPR observes is that the ranks of PC gamers are growing in the Mid and High-End where ASPs are high. Also the average PC sale is increasingly motivated by the video game use model, which is important to understand in a stagnant or declining overall PC market. As basic computing functions become more entrenched with mobile devices, the PC ultimately becomes a power user’s tool. Whether for gaming, photo and video editing, content creation, etc.
Analyst Comment
AMD demonstrated its Ryzen platform at CES and showed us 60fps UltraHD graphics using Starwars Battle Front. The graphics quality was amazing! (BR)
