PC Gaming Alliance's "Horizon" findings says desktop market took in $18.6 billion last year, predicts valuation to hit $25.5 billion by 2015.
The PC gaming market is growing at a healthy clip, according to a report from pro-desktop group PC Gaming Alliance. The group's "Horizon Research 2011" report claims that 2011 global PC gaming revenues came in at $18.6 billion, up 15 percent from last year's haul.
Of note, the group found that the Chinese PC gaming market is growing at a rate nearly twice that of any other region and that it accounts for 2011 revenue of $6 billion, up 27 percent.
Additionally, the PCGA's report claims "mature game markets" like Korea, Japan, US, UK, and Germany climbed 11 percent in 2011 to $8 billion
The report specifically called out Zynga and Nexon (makers of Maple Story) as important PC players. The firm's findings say Zynga pulled in $1.1 billion in 2011, nearly double its take in 2010, with Nexon also recording similar figures.
The report said significant PC gaming growth in 2011 stemmed from free-to-play games like League of Legends, but it noted that a string of high-profile big-budget games also helped. The firm specifically called out Star Wars: The Old Republic, Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Assassin's Creed: Revelations as significant contributors.
Looking ahead, the PCGA said it expects PC gaming to continue to grow. It predicts the market to balloon 37 percent to about $25.5 billion by 2015. The firm said this growth will be driven by more widespread access to broadband Internet connections, as well as the "ease" of digital distribution and payment methods.
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
I'm going to be purchasing the parts to build a new PC in the coming months (mostly for school), but I wanna play BF3 on ultra, and everything else on ultra too. Graphics aren't everything, but they help a lot. Plus, I prefer PC controls and all the perks that come with owning a nice PC. Anyway, I think people sort-of forgot how great PC gaming was and are now just beginning to realize it once again.
Now all we need is publishers to drop the draconian DRM. You especially UBISOFT. The only publisher who has not benefited from this rise.
Some PC gamers keep saying console held back pc gaming, in fact, pc gaming is on the rise as requirement of graphic card is not too high and expensive now, PC gamers must say "thank you" to console makers
@rickjamesia LOL. You did a perfect impression of them lmao. Then the CEO guys are like "WAHHHHHHH I ONLY GOT A $9.5M BONUS INSTEAD OF 10M! WAHHHHHHHHHH QQ".
The thing that comes to mind for me right now is all the publishers constantly being like "WAH, PC gamers don't pay money! WAH, WAH, piracy, WAH! Wah... DRACONIAN DRM!"
All hail the PC Master Race and it's ruler, Gabe Newell, Duke of the Downloads. May our transfer rates remain high, our pings stay low, and our server untainted by the villainous hackers that would plunder the goldmine of data stored in our kingdom's coffers. A pox on Dark Lord John Riccitiello and his battleship, EA's Origin!
@Jedilink109 Yeah, those are the classics and we all love 'em!:) At least Midway took the time to release it for PC:)
It's about damn time PC gaming started taking it's place back on top of the mountain where it BELONGS!!!
@KidRapper It's not the new games but here's something... http://store.steampowered.com/app/205350/
That's me! :) Ever since I got my laptop a few years ago I've been playing games on this thing a TON. I used to always buy my games on console but it's mostly disappeared except for console exclusives now for me. I just like having the ability to easily take my laptop with me to game on if I decide to go visit family. That way I'm not taking a console and using up one of the family televisions while I play. They can watch a show and I can game (with keyboard and mouse OR with a controller too) any time without problems. AND if I want to play on the tv I can just plug it into the set and play games on the tv like a console. I can also play games on my laptop without needing a tv like I would with a console. A PC really gives a lot more options than consoles do and I really enjoy it. Just easier for me and I like it a lot. The only negative to a gaming PC is the starting price which can often be pretty high for a good quality system. Then again a lot of people who don't know better want an amazing PC for 3 or 4 hundred and that's ridiculous. Goofballs.
PC gaming is not that expensive (as said by most ignorant people) you can get an awesome rig for only 700. i5+560GTX+8GB is a beast already. Cheers :cool:
I'm so glad that I prefer both PC and Console gaming. Maximum quality and controls for PC, more variety and better games on Consoles IMO.
I just got into PC gaming recently. I feel like all those years of console gaming were a waste of my life. It's so much better to play games on PC, it's just a better experience, even for the same games.
If only they made PC versions of much loved franchises like Gears of War, Mortal Kombat & Uncharted, the gaming world would certainly be a better place.:) Still. developers like Rockstar are not helping the cause with their poorly optimized PC ports.:(
@Daian Yeah I know. I went with the new LGA2011 chipset and a bunch of nice new features so I don't have to upgrade for some time now. 6 cores 32GB of ram and nice PSU and GTX580 with SSD's. I'm pretty happy. More so with Boot time of 9 seconds from cold start and fast loading times of everything pretty much.
I think this is part of the reason Microsoft was content in waiting a few years to release an xbox upgrade. They are doing well in the console war while the more hardcore gamers and people who are wanting better performance are buying/upgrading PC's and feeding Microsoft's Windows 7 adoption. Then of course when they release their new console most of the PC gamers are going to stick with PC upgrade cycle and/or end up with the new console as well. I know I've personally put a lot more into PC gaming the past 18 months and I don't think it is an accident. The 360 is still solid but many gamers want the extra umph from the PC platform now that the gap has widened so much.
@PrplMnkyDshwsr7 I don't think that these charts are made by amateurs, so next gen consoles will be there too. The reason PC gaming is evolving extremely fast is the digital downloads of games. Games like Alan wake are a great example which manage to sell in 48hours so many that was equal to the money the creators spend to create the game... And for the record, I own some ancient consoles too :D, a Gameboy and a SNES. :P
PC gaming will surge as long as consoles are dated. Once a new console comes out, PC games begin to shrink as console gaming rises. I'm playing more PC now than console. Why? Consoles are 5+ years old and just can't keep up anymore! who would play something on a severely dated piece of hardware? Poor people - which by the way can't afford many games.
@ZombehDino LONG LIVE! Ironically, in opposed to PS3's slogan, we actually CAN do everything. @GymFox Congratiulations. You are going to discover a world of possiblites consoles were never able to give, and still can't to this day. The day I could stream videos, use free online services, be free of DRMs, listen to music, surf the web, and play games -- ALL AT THE SAME TIME, on a console, is the day a console MIGHT match up to a PC.
There's a forum signature that I've seen around that I really like which says "The PC: It does everything."
@fillup0 I've been thinking that console gaming is dying and PC gaming is rising... I guess I was right. ******************************************************************* Not quite. Game consoles pull in about $75 billion a year and that's a significant drop to what it was making about 10 years ago, which was closer to $100 billion. The economy is the only thing holding game console back. Once the economy recovers, console gaming will grow again. PC games are a lot cheaper and don't hold their value like console games. Plus PC games are easier to pirate and with the economy the way it is, many gamers are pirating a LOT more PC games now. So the popularity of PC games have increased because of that.
@Gorbenshore Here's a trend that needs to rise. PC's we have today will probably still be more powerful than the next gen consoles. *********************************************************************** Uumm.. PC will always be more powerful because their technology advances every 6-12 months. Game consoles can't upgrade their technology. When the Next Gen consoles come out they with be on par with current PC for about 6 months or so. That's about it. =============================================== @2edant79 Hopefully this will inspire more devs to utilize the PC. *********************************************************** Most of the console games are made using a PC.
Here's a trend that needs to rise. PC's we have today will probably still be more powerful than the next gen consoles.
@fillup0 Too true. Hell, GOG is another PC gaming download service that cranks out goodies. Not as many as Steam, and definately more older stuff (UT, Deus Ex, Baldure's Gate 1&2, etc...), but a damn good dirt cheap catalog nonetheless. Amazon's been in the frey for a while too. I was surprised to see how many quality core games they actually offered via download. Got Beyond Good & Evil from them for $5 on sale. Sweet.
microsoft surely know how to backstab their dedicated fans. first pc fans with xbox, now xbox fans with kinect.
I always wanted to go to PC, finally did a month or so ago. Damn was it worth it. Why play on hardware that only updates every 7 years when you can buy a PC that makes games look better from the get-go? I hope Steam succeeds with their Box and Microsoft and Sony go down the drain next gen, we'd see a lot more concentration on PC gaming. I'm starting to hate these dumbed down ports so that they run on 7 year old hardware, the graphics for ME3 were crushed because of it.
Also I think a lot of this is down to Steam. They've made it extremely easy to get PC games.
I've been thinking that console gaming is dying and PC gaming is rising... I guess I was right.
After A LOT of thought I am a total convert. I am even a Mac guy (boooo right???), but now in the phase of hand-building a PC system from the ground up for gaming specific capacities. In the end not really that expensive and a MASSIVE back catalog (contrary to belief). After 20+ years gaming on only consoles the switch is really exciting. It feels really pure to me in what I am tentatively calling the "new age of EA" console gaming. No more DRM-DLC **** to clog my mind! I want clean gaming. As for consoles, I have simply replaced or pull out my old gear (e.g. GC, PS1, SNES, N64, PS2, ect...) to return to OG console gaming Nirvana... In conclusion, classic consoling is fully dead outside of returning to the roots, the future of clean gaming lays within PC platforms like Steam and GOG before they, might too, become corrupt. As for the kids who are going to inevitably hate on me... you just are too young to understand... Unfortunately, your baseline is all sorts of **** up by the modern profiteering industry...
I have recently converted my second console gamer to PC, my lifes mission. A PC is so much more than just a gaming platform as well, and I've been playing PC games since days XT and AT's with 4 shades of orange, and later green, instead of the fancy 3D graphics of today! :)
I concur with veyeper. While I have all the consoles, I prioritise the PC platform when it comes to multiplatform titles. I really only use my consoles for their exclusive titles!
The year has almost come to an end and it's time once again to determine the best games of 2012. Check out all the videos, nominees, winners, and more.
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