PC market worth double the console market, says study PC master race wins the day

The PC gaming is worth double that of its competitors thanks in part to better resistance against the encroaching mobile market, according to a new study.

The report from Jon Peddie Research (via IGN) states that PC gaming on the whole is worth $21.5 billion, more than twice the value of the console industry. It projects that its value will top $23 billion by 2017. It also notes that the PC gaming space is very fragmented, comparing high-end users to sports car owners. The low-end users are more content with anything that can play their games, according to the report, so that's the market segment most at risk for being replaced by cheaper solutions.

“We continue to see a shift in casual console customers moving to mobile. While this is also occurring in the lower end PC gaming world, more money is being directed to mid and high range PC builds and upgrades by gamers. Committed PC gamers are generally not interested in pure content consumption platforms," said senior gaming analyst Ted Pollak. "They are power users and pay thousands for the ability to play games at very high settings and then do business, video/photo editing, content creation and other tasks with maximum horsepower at their disposal in a desktop ergonomic environment.”