Men in dark rooms are saving the PC industry

We recently reported that Acer was seeing some light at the end of the tunnel of declining PC shipments by finding new PC growth segments.

Now market research company GfK has confirmed their perception that the gamers of the world will be saving the PC industry.

According to their research revenues from desktop PCs and laptop gaming PCs for the first half of 2017 have grown 55 percent and 24 percent, respectively, compared to H1 2016 for a total of 1.5 billion Euros. Markets across Western Europe were responsible for 44 percent of the total revenue followed by Asia and Eastern Europe (plus Russia) at 34 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Gaming accessories like mice, keyboards, headsets, and monitors have grown in tandem. Revenue from gaming monitors in particular was up 114 percent YoY due to high demand for large monitors (24-inch and up) with unique features including 120/144 Hz refresh rates, fast response times, G-Sync/FreeSync compatibility, and even curved panels. In total, gaming monitors accounted for 57 percent of all revenue from PC gaming accessories.

Gaming hardware often has much larger than average margins, with Acer, for example, saying some PC companies are seeing  50% of their gross profits generated from selling gaming hardware to a much smaller number of gaming customer.

As a result, we have seen companies boost their gaming lines, with more aggressive designs and eSports sponsorships, with GfK expecting Mixed Reality and VR gaming to offer the next major impetus for gamers to upgrade their devices.