Graphics vendor NVIDIA reckons that the total amount of money spent on PC games will be greater than that splashed out on console titles within the next three years.

That's according to a report over at Techgage , which says that the claims were made during a conference call with analysts yesterday.

The figures come from research firm DFC Intelligence , and appear to relate to the US only - a couple of weeks ago the same firm produced a report which said global online sales alone are worth $19.3bn in 2010, compared to the $15bn total for PC software in the graph above.

Before we get too excited, though, a lot of the money that's being talked about isn't from retail sales or even digital downloads - PC gaming in the traditional sense is not going to be a bigger market than all the consoles combined any time soon. Rather it's a reflection of booming growth in free-to-play models and microtransactions for Facebook games et al - which won't sell many graphics cards.

It doesn't include smartphones and tablet games, however, but does reflect DFC's belief that by 2013 online games sales and new business models will surpass sales of retail software.

The one thing that is worth taking away from this is that publishers might want to reconsider creating unique IP for PC games again.

(Via PCPer.com )