According to a new report published by Jon Peddie Research, the PC gaming hardware market is well on track to hit a record 35% growth in 2025. This would be a up to 44.5 billion net in PC gaming hardware and Jon Peddie also states that it’s expected to stay at over $40 billion until 2028.
JPR’s research is based on sales of PC gaming hardware, which means desktops, notebooks, AIBs and peripherals such as controllers, headsets, and so on. Further according to JPR, the big culprit behind this massive surge is Windows 11. As you probably know, Windows 11 has new hardware requirements meaning that many PC gamers would have been prompted to upgrade to the new OS.
Ted Pollak, JPR’s senior analyst of game tech said “Never before in the history of the Microsoft Windows operating system has there been a forced hardware migration requirement. And this cannot be solved by swapping out a graphics card. It requires a CPU upgrade for over 100 million gamers, which, in turn, requires a motherboard upgrade and most likely RAM as well.”
“We are observing that most PC gamers are simply buying new prebuilt systems. The DIY gamers are also prepared for this transition, and many have been building new computers alongside their existing Windows 10 PCs, instead of trying to Frankenstein their current systems. This allows them to continue using their PC until their Windows 11 builds are complete.”
On the lower end of the PC gaming hardware spectrum, though, JPR’s report states that the entry level market is projected to shrink by 13% over the next 5 years. The cause is pretty much what you’d expect, that gamers with entry level hardware will instead be choosing to jump to consoles, as the up front cost is a lot less than if you were to fully upgrade an entry level rig.
So it seems despite the squeeze being put on everyone thanks to the increasing cost of living, the PC gaming market is surging and is expected to stay at that level for some time.
