PC gaming has expanded its lead over consoles in the hardware market, and may safely be called "dominant" in the industry, according to a recent study by John Peddie Research.

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The study found the PC gaming market is worth $21.5 billion USD - over twice the size of its competitors in the console industry. The report took into account market sales of personal computers, accessories, upgrades, and other such form of hardware used for gaming purposes. Senior Gaming Analyst Ted Pollak says it's being driven by both casual gamers moving to mobile platforms, and by more hardcore gamers who desire gaming experiences not available through console technology.Jon Peddie, President of JPR, attributes part of the success of the PC hardware market simply to more advanced technology:"Nvidia, Intel, and AMD have enthusiast CPUs and GPUs that are so powerful, when combined with SSD's and fast memory, they absolutely trounce the computing power and gaming capabilities of the newest console generation,” and that “committed PC gamers...are power users and pay thousands for the ability to play games at very high settings.”For commentary on the rise of PC gaming, see IGN’s article on the subject

David Witmer is a freelance writer for IGN. He enjoys tweeting and blogging about deep stuff. Follow him on Twitter @d_witmer , or on IGN at dynasty_70