PC software sales increasing in China and worldwide

Despite the explosive presence of mobile, the PC market is growing. A new report by the non-profit organization PC Gaming Alliance indicates an 8 percent global increase year-over-year of PC software sales.

The Alliance also marked a 90 percent growth overall since its first report in 2008, the year the group was founded. Every geographical segment it tracked showed healthy improvement, especially in China, which contributed $6.8 billion in global revenue.

This follows a year of decline in subscription-based massively multiplayer role-playing games, struggling social network games, and a boom in mobile, the Alliance noted.

"However, 2012 saw significantly increased distribution of successful titles that positively impacted the market, including Diablo 3, Guild Wars 2, Minecraft, and the Mists of Pandaria expansion to World of Warcraft,"  David Cole, an analyst for DFC Intelligence, which compiled the report with help from JPR Research, told GI.biz.

The report confirms 1 billion PC gamers worldwide. About 25 percent are "core" players interested in strategy, action, and role-playing games. Globally, the PC Gaming Alliance expects the PC game industry to hit $25.7 billion in sales by 2016.

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