“The PC Gaming Hardware Market–personal computers, upgrades and peripherals used for gaming–is strong and healthy,” says a new study. This despite the PC market’s overall decline as PCs continue to lose market share to mobile devices, tablets and Macs. But the most interesting news out of the study is how the PC dominates gaming consoles in the gaming business–with, at $21.5 billion, more than double the market value of the console-based business. Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and other companies have fought brutal battles to win their share of the competitive gaming console market with Xbox, Playstation, etc. There was even speculation, before the smartphone invasion, that gaming consoles were the next big thing–the way to most easily reach consumers at leisure.
High-end users though, prefer the PC experience. Jon Peddie of JPR Research says that Intel and Nvidia chips powering PCs have “enthusiast CPUs and GPUs that are so powerful, when combined with SSD’s and fast memory they absolutely trounce the computing power and gaming capabilities of the newest console generation.” In fact, “PC Gamers with good displays are able to enjoy millions and millions of pixels more than console gamers get on HDTVs.” Lower-end users continue to play more games on their phones.
