PC gaming hardware worth double console market value - report

PC gaming hardware is valued at $21.5 billion (£12.6bn) globally, which according to Jon Peddie Research (JPR), is over double that of the console gaming market.

According to to the analyst firm's PC Gaming Hardware Market report, sales of PC hardware and peripherals used for gaming remain strong despite the overall decline in the PC market.

“We continue to see a shift in casual console customers moving to mobile,” noted the firm's senior gaming analyst Ted Pollak. “While this is also occurring in the lower-end PC gaming world, more money is being directed to mid and high-range builds and upgrades by gamers.

“Committed PC gamers are generally not interested in pure content consumption platforms. They are power users and pay thousands for the ability to play games at very high settings and then do business, video/photo editing, content creation and other tasks with maximum horsepower at their disposal in a desktop ergonomic environment.”

Jon Peddie, president of JPR, believes as gaming PC performance increases, the console market will struggle to keep up.

“Nvidia, Intel and AMD have enthusiast CPU and GPUs that are so powerful that, when combined with SSDs and fast memory, they absolutely trounce the computing power and gaming capabilities of the newest console generation,” he stated. “Being able to drive 3840×2160 (4K) is already a reality for the highest end configurations and the mass market is now able to push 2560×1440.

"PC gamers with good displays are able to enjoy millions and millions of pixels more than console gamers get on HDTVs. This translates into being able to see more and an overall better gaming experience.”

The PC gaming hardware market will be valued at $23.2 billion (£13.6bn) by 2017, according to the firm.

Thanks, MCV.

[Image: Reddit]