PC Gaming Still on the Rise

PC gaming hardware remained one of the most important drivers of growth for the computer and peripherals manufacturers in the B2C field in the first half of 2017 as well, according to GfK research unveiled at IFA show. In addition to desktop PCs and notebooks, gaming accessories also benefited from the continuing boom in the world of electronic games.

After challenging years with new technologies, like tablets or smartphones, gaming PCs have developed from a niche segment to a strong selling mainstream product. This trend continued in the first half of 2017 and gaming desktop PCs managed to increase their global revenue by 55 percent compared to the previous year. Portable gaming PCs had a revenue increase of 24 percent. In total, global revenues of all gaming PCs in the markets measured by GfK (excluding North America) amounted to €1.5 billion.

The greatest share of the revenue here was from the Western European market, which was responsible for 44 percent of all sales at €682 million (a revenue increase of 11 percent). The Asian-Pacific economic region had a share of 34 percent (revenue: €522 million; revenue growth up 67 percent) and Eastern Europe (including Russia) 12 percent (revenue: €193 million; revenue growth up 42 percent).

PC gaming accessories also enjoyed persistent high popularity among consumers and can continue the growth of recent years full speed ahead. Worldwide, this segment has achieved an increase in sales of 56 percent over the previous year for the period of January to June. Overall, revenues for the first half of 2017 amounted to 1.1 billion euros.

With revenue growth of 114 percent, gaming monitors in particular made a major contribution to this very good result. High consumer demand was seen around large-format screens (24 inches and above) with high refresh rates, GPU synchronization or curved screens. Gaming monitors are not only the fastest growing accessory segment, but also the highest-selling by far with a share of sales of 57 percent (sales: €597 million).

But gaming mice (sales: €130 million; sales growth: up 15 percent), gaming keyboards (sales: €117 million; sales growth: up 23 percent) and gaming headsets (sales: €210 million; sales growth: up 10 percent) were able to achieve significant growth in the first half of 2017, too. Ongoing growth in PC gaming hardware can also be expected in the second half of the year. The success of e-sports and the continuing spread of virtual reality may provide further positive impulses and generate additional momentum.