GCDC 2008: PC Gaming Rebounds! (Except Not Really)
Not really, because PC gaming was never really down, according to PC Gaming Alliance (PCGA) president Randy Stude, who at the Games Convention Developer's Conference in Leipzig claimed the industry was worth $10-point-7 billion worldwide in 2007. Far more important, only 30 percent of that revenue came from retail sales, i.e. 70 percent came from online and other retail alternative transactions.
Why the long media faces about PC gaming in the U.S.? Well for one, it's important to note that most of the growth in 2007 came from Asia, the largest market in the world, with nearly half of total worldwide sales. The actual state of U.S. PC gaming (relatively speaking) isn't entirely clear, though Yankee Group estimated earlier this year that online PC gaming in North America generated $1.6 billion in 2007, and predicts online PC gaming will reach $3.89 billion by 2012. Still, you'll want to be aware that Stude's numbers are likely inclusive of games like "Habbo Hotel" (a Finland-based social MMO with 7.5 million active users) and the pay-per aspects of extremely popular kiddie MMOs like "Club Penguin" and "Webkinz." That's fine and representative, but if you're thinking he's talking $10.7 billion in traditional PC games, Doom to World of Warcraft, think again.
Second, online PC gaming revenues were $4.8 billion, nearly double worldwide retail PC game sales, a number monthly revenue analysts like NPD haven't (yet) started reporting. Digital distribution alone was close to $2 billion, and ad revenue is poised to grow as vendors look increasingly at gaming as a way to reach potential consumers.
Breaking gamers into categories like "casual" and "hardcore" has always been controversial. You know how the ESA reports the average gamer is so old and plays these many hours a week and purchases such-and-such many games a month in their annual "facts" reports? Instead of pumping out general numbers that don't tell the public much, or which mix national with worldwide sales in a way that confuses the question, how about a detailed study that correlates game sales (by title, genre, etc.) with those groups.
Still MIA in these numbers? PC games specific piracy rates (by region), historical trending relating sales declines to piracy rate increases (Asia has piracy rates that boggle the mind compared to U.S. rates, and yet Asia is cited above as accounting for nearly half of total worldwide PC games revenue, while piracy is routinely fingered by U.S. publishers as the number one reason a PC game "undersells"), and estimates of the size of the market for used PC games in terms of legitimate resellers on Amazon, eBay, etc.
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Main problem with online gaming is people that have to cheat to win . By using hacks. there must be a way for programmers to stop the hackers . I am Disabled and try to have fun gaming to get throuhg another day .
"Second, online PC gaming revenues were $4.8 billion, nearly double worldwide retail PC game sales, a number monthly revenue analysts like NPD haven't (yet) started reporting. "
This is the key statement, to me. Once you start broadening your definition of what PC gaming is outside of the standard NPD retail numbers, it'll become clear that there are a FAR greater number of people playing PC games (casual, pay-to-play, Facebook apps, etc.) than was previously estimated.
Andy Williams
www.gamejobhunter.com