Report: PC Games Sales to Eclipse Consoles by the End of 2016

In a new report by PwC published at CNet, researchers claim that by the end of 2016, PC game sales will eclipse the value of console games sold. The data that the report sites shows that PC game sales will be at $29 billion while console game sales will be $28 billion by the end of 2016. The report cites the growing number of users in India and China as well as the growing population of eSports where the PC is the platform of choice.

The use of PCs is also predicted to trend up with Virtual Reality gaining more and more popularity. As VR takes off with more affordable and more accessible equipment, more folks will be looking for engines to drive and power these VR systems. This means the PC should walk hand-in-hand with cutting edge VR platforms such as Oculus VR.

The last thing CNet reports as a PC driver is the success of cloud-based gaming services like Steam, Uplay, NVIDIA Grid, and others that make purchasing and playing new PC games very easy. With companies like Valve now offering up refunds for online Steam purchases, and other incentives, the growth of cloud-based gaming will become more popular and accessible. We believe that as many people are trying to “cut-the-cord” and consolidate their entertainment to the couch, PC-driven technology like Cloud or even NVIDIA’s Shield will help drive the use of PC gaming since consoles will be somewhat restricted to hardware advances.

We will, of course, take careful note of what publishers are saying about this trend during this week at E3 2015.