54 Million Enthusiast and Performance PC Gamers Globally

With all the buzz that tablets are taking over the gaming world as well as new game consoles from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony appearing on the horizon, you'd almost (almost) be forgiven for thinking PC gaming was dead. However, today brings news that there are still 54 million gamers that market research firm Jon Peddie Research categorizes as performance and enthusiast class gamers. Additionally, the firm says PC gaming will drive hardware sales of $23.6 billion this year and about $32 billion by 2015. Much of that growth is predicted to happen due to a "winding down recession."

JPR was rather stingy with additional data and tells us that the complete data set is available for $15,000, or in three, $7,500 bite-sized portions for enthusiast, performance, and mainstream markets covering 33 countries.

"We are witnessing the market morph and grow into different areas," said JPR analyst Ted Pollak. "This has always been a strong point of PC gaming; the ability to adapt to different entertainment environments and requirements. The hobbyist aspect of the DIY market is driving billions in component sales and small form factor rigs are being hooked up to HDTVs, essentially being used as super consoles."

JPR predicts especially strong growth in BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - where gaming hardware revenue is expected to climb from $4.7 billion in 2012 to $7.7 billion in 2015.