PC gaming topped $13 billion in 2009 - Report

[Blackhand]

Study finds worldwide retail, downloadable, and advertising revenues for computer games up 3 percent; retail now less than 20% of PC market.

The report also found consumers growing more comfortable with the notion of buying their games online. More than 70 percent of North American and European players surveyed said they had purchased a game online, with 50 percent having purchased a virtual item in a game.

Full story @ Gamespot

On a similar note, the new Steam UI shows how many users are currently online with a peak and offpeak chart which gives an idea as to how active their service is. During weekday peak times 2mil-2.5mil are online, weekend peak times 2.5mil-3mil and offpeak times 1.3mil-1.8mil. These are the figures I've been seeing consistently since the beta release of their new UI.

The last official figures released by Valve in 2009 were that they had over 25mil active accounts and 10 million of those have activity community profiles.

[Nictron]

That is still a massive market. Long live the PC!

[Alan]

That is still a massive market. Long live the PC!

Indeed. We'll survive DRM and paying for demos.....

[Vixe]

Simple proof that the PC gaming market isn't declining. Although, we sure won't be seeing many PC exclusives, that's for sure.

[Lydon]

But the PC market is dying etc. etc. How dare figures prove otherwise

[Necuno]

something like this ?

non steam users, but pc gamers == pirates
unchipped console gamers == non-pirates but snobbish
steam users == uber new kids on the block

[tehNihilist]

Hmm, I just wish there were more good exclusive titles on PC overall. The cross-platforms are all good, but the PC really needs a few more games designed specifically for the PC.

Personally I find myself buying less and less PC games every year, this has little to do with bias, but more to do with the variety and sheer fresh content on console. If it were not for MMO's and the occasional exclusive, I feel I would seldom if ever game on my PC... Considering 6-10yrs ago I spent the bulk of my gaming time on my PC.

I will say however that some cross-platform games are best on PC, like Dragon Age, but those are not the norm. Seems so many games now are intended for consoles, or at least with console heavily in mind.

Anyways that is still nice to hear. Variety is good.

[Ayreul]

I will say however that some cross-platform games are best on PC, like Dragon Age, but those are not the norm. Seems so many games now are intended for consoles, or at least with console heavily in mind.

I agree. It does seem that Battlefield bad company 2 is also doing great, probably due to MW2 snubbing the calls for dedicated servers. Now look 400% better than expected sales. I wonder how well MW2 would have done if it only gave an inch.

Point and case still lies with developers focus on consoles. IMO the reason is that they believe it is easier to sell on PS3/Xbox as the vast number of casual gamers on the platform. PC gamers are considered to be more hardcore and harder to please, again an assumption that would be proven wrong if only the developers decide to focus some attention on the platform, Im not even asking for exclusives just not some watered down port.

Who wouldnt want a cut of $13 billion.........that's billion not million... a billion is allot of million!

[Ayreul]

I will say however that some cross-platform games are best on PC, like Dragon Age, but those are not the norm. Seems so many games now are intended for consoles, or at least with console heavily in mind.

I agree. It does seem that Battlefield bad company 2 is also doing great, probably due to MW2 snubbing the calls for dedicated servers. Now look 400% better than expected sales. I wonder how well MW2 would have done if it only gave an inch.

Point and case still lies with developers focus on consoles. IMO the reason is that they believe it is easier to sell on PS3/Xbox as the vast number of casual gamers on the platform. PC gamers are considered to be more hardcore and harder to please, again an assumption that would be proven wrong if only the developers decide to focus some attention on the platform, Im not even asking for exclusives just not some watered down port.

Who wouldnt want a cut of $13 billion.........that's billion not million... a billion is allot of million!

[Nictron]

The market can't actually determine the true PC market as it is not retail based like the consoles. THe internet is full of PC users and the PC market is cross subsidized by marketing. Like free flash games and so forth.

I think if you take all that into account the PC market is the biggest and not the smallest.

Idiots!