Gaming set to rescue ailing PC industry as gaming hardware sales top $30 billion

Even though the PC market isn’t doing so well, the PC gaming hardware market is literally booming. According to a new report from research firm Jon Peddie Research, the PC Gaming Hardware market exceeded $30 billion in 2016 — and that’s the highest ever so far. In fact, Jon Peddie Research actually forcasted the PC Gaming Hardware market to exceed $30 billion in 2018 but the market’s rapid growth allowed it to pass $30 billion two years early.

JPR reported that the high-end segment of the market was the biggest money maker as it pulled in $13 billion which is 43% of the whole gaming hardware market. The mid-range market is obviously the second one with around $10 billion and the entry-level market generated almost $7 billion.

JPR states the Asia Pacific region brought in the highest growth due the lack of console traction, but North American and Western Europe lead the market when it comes to high-end hardware:

Due of an entrenched PC gaming culture, large population, and a lack of significant console traction, the Asia Pacific Region leads the world in both growth and market size with a forecasted 7% CAGR to 2019 from a TAM of almost $11.3 billion in 2016. However, North America and Western Europe both individually lead Asia Pacific for High-End hardware, albeit at lower growth rates of 5.78% and 6.63% vs. 9.61% respectively. The western appetite for PC gaming systems costing thousands of dollars is strong.

Ted Pollak, the Senior Game Industry Analyst for JPR said in a statement, “Global consumers continue to embrace the PC platform for video games due to multiple factors. The desktop ergonomic is popular because the display distance offers increased detail when using HD and UHD monitors. Additionally there is superior control with mouse and keyboard control interfaces. This has been validated with eSports overwhelmingly being played on PCs. Additionally, product designers have given PC gamers thousands of options for complete customization from a functionally and aesthetic perspective.”

“Examples of this include dedicated driving and flight systems, multi-display setups, super-powerful graphics boards, and a wide selection of gaming notebooks ranging from desktop substitutes to innovative “thin and light” offerings. Liquid cooling, lighting, solid state drives, genre specific gaming mice, mechanical keyboards, notebook graphics amplifiers, and Xbox accessory compatibility offer gamers more choices than they have ever had,” Pollak added.

The gaming market is obviously roaring at the moment due to new innovations in the high-end segment of the market. Laptop makers are also trying to bring high-end gaming to compact devices, which is possibly a big contributor to the growth of the PC Gaming Hardware market — but the contribution will likely get even bigger once we start seeing compact hardware. The innovations done in the monitors market is also a big contributor, and Virtual Reality will likely lead the growth within a few years once VR hardware gets cheaper.