PC Game Hardware: Market Forecasts

DFC Intelligence's PC Game Hardware Forecast is a commercial market research product sizing consumer spending on desktop and laptop systems purchased for playing video games. It concentrates on premium game rigs and custom do-it-yourself builds in which consumers select individual components. The most recent update dates to June 2024, and the product is sold as a single-user license bundling the report, an Excel workbook with five-year forecasts, and a one-hour analyst call.

The central thesis is that hardware spending has become a major driver of the global PC game industry, propelled by a growing base of sophisticated DIY buyers. While overall PC hardware sales slowed, gamers continued to push growth in high-end products. The market was weakened in 2022 by GPU inventory problems, global economic concerns, and other disruptions. A new generation of graphics cards in 2023, improved supply, and easing inflation are expected to lift sales, and DFC sees 2024 as the start of a hardware refresh cycle that should support a stagnant game market through 2025 and beyond.

Data is segmented by three PC types: enthusiast desktop game PCs, where consumers add or build components themselves; desktop game PCs bought mainly for gaming; and laptop game PCs bought mainly for gaming. Five-year forecasts cover North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Rest of World, each available as an individual subsegment. More granular cuts by component, such as GPUs, CPUs, cases, cooling, monitors, and storage, are available on request.

Forecasts are positioned as "living," with buyers receiving three months of updates. The firm, active in video games since the 1990s, says its analysis relies on public information and AI-assisted data mining, and it differentiates itself from "pay to play" research firms. No actual market size figures or growth rates appear in the product description.