PC gaming market posts 20 percent growth in 2010

Posted on Saturday, March 05 2011 @ 11:56 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
The PC Gaming Alliance reports sales of PC video games hit $16.2 billion in 2010, a 20 percent growth compared to the year before. The major driver of growth is digital distribution, while online gaming and free-to-play are also cited as major growth contributors.
I'm not even going to make the obligatory "PC gaming is dead" crack because at this point, even the irony is worn out. Instead we're just going to get straight to the PC Gaming Alliance's 2010 Horizons report, compiled by DFC Intelligence, which says that 2010 was a banner year for the PC game industry. The global PC games market hit a value of $16.2 billion in 2010, a year-over-year increase from 2009 of 20 percent. China was the largest and fastest-growing market for PC games, putting up $4.8 billion in revenues for the year, but "mature markets" in the U.S., U.K., Japan, Korea and Germany all showed significant growth as well, combining for $7.3 billion in revenues, a 19 percent increase.
More info at Escapist Magazine.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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Re: PC gaming market posts 20 percent growth in 2010
by Anonymous on Saturday, March 05 2011 @ 15:53 CET
Laptops have tons more gaming ability than they did before and that's 50% of the market. That's even excluding pure gaming oriented laptops.

The Wow market is maturing and as folks tire of that, they are looking for other modes of entertainment. I think that plays well to Diablo 3, Dragon Age 1/1.5/2, and the plethora of RPG's that have done well on the market.

And all this while the cost of gaming on a PC has come way down. So you don't have to spend a fortune to get a fun machine to play with.

Consoles have proven no real barrier to theft of IP rights, and not a real boon to cost either as they suffered huge failure rates over their lifetimes.

So as the market has matured and gained experience in the various means of getting to an end (entertainment), the PC market has shown some worth in the end.

Moreover, as power to game reaches smaller and smaller devices that operate along the lines of PC's, netbooks and tablets, you'll see even further strength in this area. PC's will gain by the same token that that they run just what those devices do, only better, as well as continuing ports from console games.

What makers have discovered is that if you design a hit for the PC you can easily port it over to consoles for a lesser version, and phones and tablets for even more revenue streams. So it's a win for them in this way too.

As parts get more powerful and costs are controlled well, PC's will likely be quite a market powerhouse in the years to come.