Wednesday, March 7th 2012

Report: PC Gaming On The Rise

This may not be a surprise to the PC enthusiast community but, the PC gaming market has never been healthier, according to a report from the not-for-profit consortium PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA). The report claims that in 2011, the industry reached a global record $18.6 billion, a growth of 15 percent over the prior year. The report cites burgeoning foreign markets and social games as large factors in the findings. The results of the PCGA's third annual "Horizons" research report found that China is growing at almost twice the rate of the global market, bringing in $6 billion for a total growth of 27 percent. The US, UK, Korea, Japan, and Germany saw increased revenue of 11%, by comparison. Asian companies, in general, are noted for spurring on sales in their markets.

The report also cites Zynga and Nexon (of MapleStory fame) as frontrunners in the PC space. Zynga in particular doubled its revenue to roughly $1.1 billion, putting it on-par with Nexon. Zynga and the German company Bigpoint were noted for pushing the free-to-play model, already popular in Asian territories, into North America and Europe. The report also notes the movers and shakers of big-budget PC games from the western market, like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Rift, along with multiplatform titles like Battlefield 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Looking forward, the report speculates that the industry will grow to $25.5 billion (37 percent increase) by 2015, thanks to increased broadband penetration and digital delivery. The report is from a PC gaming coalition with a vested interest in trumpeting the industry's health, but even so, the rumors of PC's death have greatly exaggerated.
Source: Shacknews
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53 Comments on Report: PC Gaming On The Rise

#26
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
this is actually terrible news for pc gaming. the gains in pc gaming have mostly come from facebook. the percentage of honest to god pc games like bf3 and the half life franchise is shrinking!
Posted on Reply
#27
BumbleBee
WrigleyvillainBut it's only a good thing for them and their bottom line...not at all for us as consumers and gamers. Yet you sound like you "support" this situation...

And if people know but just "don't care" as you say last then they are ignorant fools allowing themselves to be force-fed a subpar experience.
PC Gaming is niche and if you don't use it for anything but it's a terrible value proposition.
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#28
TheMailMan78
Big Member
BumbleBeePC Gaming is niche and if you don't use it for anything but it's a terrible value proposition.
Yeah because consoles are a much better value.:rolleyes: I got SKYRIM for 39 bucks and BF3 was for sale for $19 bucks. PC gaming is in fact cheaper. You just cannot be an idiot to build and maintain a good rig......unlike consoles.
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#29
BumbleBee
like I said everybody knows how great Steam is.. put it back in your pants lol

you guys make a lot of assumptions like the consumer has a desk, chair or older desktop to upgrade. if you have to go out and buy a desk, chair, 120hz monitor, mouse, mechanical keyboard it can be expensive before you even get started. how does Metro and the ability to control your XBOX 360 in Windows 8 do PC Gaming any favors? consoles got all the exclusives and cost less than a i5-2500k. PC Gaming is for hardware enthusiast and geeks like me who like Evochron and Dawn of War.
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#30
Wrigleyvillain
PTFO or GTFO
First of all no one needs a 120Hz display or even a widescreen for that matter. And can just hook the PC up to your nice big expensive HDTV that you likely already own (and may have bought at least partially for gaming purposes). Then you also get to stay on your nice comfy couch which is another grabbing-at-straws justification I see thrown around for not playing on a PC.
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#31
BumbleBee
I can't stand 60hz refresh rate. you want people to spend a lot of money on the thing you guys complain about the most..bad console ports.
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#32
Wrigleyvillain
PTFO or GTFO
Yeah well having yet to experience 120 I have no issue with 60. Sure that will change when I do. Again, no one needs the best of the best still still beat the pants off playing on a console. At least with the newest games like BF3 and Skyrim.
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#33
xenocide
BumbleBeeyou guys make a lot of assumptions like the consumer has a desk, chair or older desktop to upgrade. if you have to go out and buy a desk, chair, 120hz monitor, mouse, mechanical keyboard it can be expensive before you even get started. how does Metro and the ability to control your XBOX 360 in Windows 8 do PC Gaming any favors? consoles got all the exclusives and cost less than a i5-2500k. PC Gaming is for hardware enthusiast and geeks like me who like Evochron and Dawn of War.
By your logic you should have to factor in a couch, coffee table, entertainment center, TV, and a host of other things. You cannot just buy an Xbox 360 and play it, you need other stuff. In this day and age it's inconceivable that someone doesn't have a computer in some capacity. Nobody needs a Mechanical Keyboard, and a lot of people prefer cheaper alternatives (I use mechanical's at work and cannot stand them), you can get monitors for dirt cheap these days.

I'm with Mailman on this one, you just cannot be retarded about it.
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#34
brandonwh64
Addicted to Bacon and StarCrunches!!!
BumbleBeeI can't stand 60hz refresh rate. you want people to spend a lot of money on the thing you guys complain about the most..bad console ports.
I have seen 60Hz and 120Hz in action and I say 60Hz is just fine IMO
Posted on Reply
#35
xenocide
brandonwh64I have seen 60Hz and 120Hz in action and I say 60Hz is just fine IMO
As someone who's used both, I can't stand 60Hz anymore :P
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#36
BumbleBee
I hate 60hz more than rubber dome keyboards.
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#37
xenocide
I'd like Mechanical Keyboards a lot more if they weren't ugly as sin, bulkier than a linebacker, expensive as gold, and loud as a bus. Redesign the things to look like they're from this decade and bring the cost down to like $60 for entry levels and then we'll talk. My Razer Arcosa is fine for everything.
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#38
BumbleBee
I have high standards.. I need a mechanical keyboard, SSD, monitor with good motion resolution, I like expensive chairs, I don't like cheap cases because they can be a pain in the ass to work with (sharp edges, no dust filters, noisy fans, no rubber feet, small space, cable management).
Posted on Reply
#39
xenocide
BumbleBeeI have high standards.. I need a mechanical keyboard, SSD, monitor with good motion resolution, I like expensive chairs, I don't like cheap cases because they can be a pain in the ass to work with (sharp edges, no dust filters, noisy fans, no rubber feet, small space, cable management).
Then that's your opinion, but I'll be honest when I say almost all of that stuff doesn't apply to everyone. Most people don't like Mechanical Keyboards, barely know what an SSD does, don't care unless their monitor is "HD", use folding chairs or dinning room chairs, and get whatever case they can afford. The joy of PC gaming is that you can get all these luxuries, on Consoles you're playing their games, on their system, just like everyone else is.
Posted on Reply
#40
Wrigleyvillain
PTFO or GTFO
BumbleBeeI have high standards.. I need a mechanical keyboard, SSD, monitor with good motion resolution, I like expensive chairs, I don't like cheap cases because they can be a pain in the ass to work with (sharp edges, no dust filters, noisy fans, no rubber feet, small space, cable management).
You have "high standards" for a PC ...yet you are defending playing on a closed, six-year-old piece of hardware and essentially claiming it's superior. I mean I can see what you're saying (to a degree) but it's still kinda ironic and makes me chuckle.
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#41
BumbleBee
I'm not attacking the PC. I love all my platforms.

Posted on Reply
#42
Maelstrom
Man, Yahtzee's depiction of pc gamers makes me crack up every time!
Posted on Reply
#43
MxPhenom 216
ASIC Engineer
BumbleBeeMailman the industry as a whole is worth $65 billion.. how much do you think the console side of things takes up on the pie chart lol and who cares about Korea
yeah and how many of those consoles are owned or played by small children? The only advantage i see with consoles is to play games that are exclusive to just consoles, and don't release on PC. Other then that PC reigns supreme
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#44
BumbleBee
i'm a grown woman and own all those platforms and then some. only people on my XBLA and PSN list under 18 are my nephews. teenage PC Gamers? anyone?
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#45
Wrigleyvillain
PTFO or GTFO
Yeah I knew you weren't "attacking" anything...
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#46
Fourstaff
I play Starcraft II and DotA on my laptop (the two games which I spend ~90% of my gaming time on), and it costs me £370. Keyboard G11 and mouse Sidewinder X5 for £40 (both second hand), which brings my total gaming setup cost to £410. Alternatively, I can buy a PS3 for £189 and a 24" TV for about £200, costing £389 in total.

Conclusion: If I get a PS3 setup I still need a laptop to do my trolling on, adding costs whereas if I go for the PC route I can skip the PS3 setup.

Disclaimer: I play PC games on PC, and I play console games on consoles. I don't really care about "PC gaming dead/dying/healthy/etc." because people will always make games for PC, just that the "big money projects" slowly get cut down (which doesn't really matter, lots of good indie games out there like Minecraft and Torchlight)
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#47
nt300
Nothing beats PC gaming with PC Keyboard + Mouse :) The reaction, response time kills controllers.
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#48
Wrigleyvillain
PTFO or GTFO
That's a big part of it...recently in some Reddit BF3 threads been hearing console players mention things like how they can't really go up against choppers while in tanks as the turret turns so damn slow with a controller. The more I hear about what it's really like to play on a console the worse it gets.
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#49
BumbleBee
nt300Nothing beats PC gaming with PC Keyboard + Mouse :) The reaction, response time kills controllers.
if your using PS2, mechanical keyboard and CRT monitor then yes.
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#50
Wrigleyvillain
PTFO or GTFO
lol oh please...

But I give up. You play on a PC too. That's good enough for me.
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