PC gaming marches onward

In case you were wondering why Microsoft is suddenly keen on PC gaming, after having basically neglected is for years in favour of their XBox console line, the latest gaming PC sales numbers might hold a clue. Because sales of gaming PCs are booming, even as PC sales overall continue their years-long decline.

From TechSpot:

We often hear about the declining PC market, but it seems that gaming PCs are on the rise in North America. According to the vice president of computer and electronics store Micro Center, overall sales increased 25 – 30 percent on year in 2016, and Micro Center's own sales grew 200 – 300 percent from a year ago.

Digitimes reports that VP Kevin Jones believes the increase in gaming PC sales can be attributed to the growth in eSports popularity. He considered PC gaming a niche market as recently as five years ago, but says the segment has grown rapidly since 2016 thanks to mid-range prices and more publicity around eSports.

[...]

Last year, analyst firm Gartner reported that Q1 2016 was the first quarter to see fewer than 65 million PC sales since 2007. It is, however, a different story when it comes to high-end gaming laptops and desktops, which it expects to grow from 6 million units in 2015 to 8.7 million units in 2020, accounting for 13 percent of all consumer PC shipments.

It would seem that the PC gaming renaissance is far from over, and gaming PC sales are booming in spite of Moore's Law not being a thing anymore, which may be contributing to Windows 10's popularity among Steam users, since new PCs now come with Windows 10 installed by default. It also helps that digital download accounts for 69% of all game sales, which boosts PC gaming in particular, since PC gamers were basically pushed into the arms of Valve and Steam by apathetic brick-and-mortar retailers years ago.

Yes, sir, if you're a PC gamer, it's a great time to be gaming. If you're a console gamer, you may want to consider joining the...



(Truly, we live in dank times.)

One interesting sidebar: with gaming PC sales booming, and boosting Windows 10's market share in the process, and Chromebooks sales also booming, but eating into Windows 10 PC sales, the shape of the future overall PC market could be about to evolve in some pretty interesting ways. Which PC sales trend has greater staying power? Which will reign supreme? Whichever it is, the next year in PC should be very interesting.