New study values PC market as over double console market

PC may indeed be the master gaming race, financially speaking, if a new study from Jon Peddie Research holds water.

The firm values the PC gaming market at $21.5 billion, over double the console gaming market. JPR describes this gap as “strong and healthy amongst the backdrop of general declines in the PC market,” and attributes it to PC users’ tendency to spring for top-notch hardware.

“We continue to see a shift in casual console customers moving to mobile,” senior gaming analyst Ted Pollak said. “While this is also occurring in the lower end PC gaming world, more money is being directed to mid and high range PC 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,” he concluded.

The chart above, seen in the study, shows the predicted landscape of the 2017 PC gaming market, with enthusiast users being the largest single demographic, whom JPR amusingly likens to sports car owners.

[via IGN]