Gaming PCs and monitor shipments worldwide grew 26.8% in 2020
Apr 4, 2021, 12:52 IST
Driven primarily by lockdown-induced demand, shipments of gaming PCs and monitors grew 26.8 per cent year-over-year in 2020 to 55 million units, according to a report from industry tracker International Data Corporation (IDC).
Gaming notebooks remained the biggest volume driver through a year marked by home restrictions, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Gaming Tracker.
Despite being affected by display panel shortages through much of the year, gaming notebooks grew a record 26.9 per cent in 2020 as consumers appreciated their versatility for both work and play.
Aside from the sheer volume, 2020 brought other milestones that could alter future trends.
North America and Western Europe combined overtook Asia/Pacific (including Japan) as the largest market for the first time, largely due to lockdown-induced demand.
"Unfortunately, the supply of gaming PCs has tumbled recently and while crypto-mining may be partially to blame, the sheer demand for these products and growth in the player base is more likely the root cause of the shortages," said Jitesh Ubrani, Research Manager for IDC's Worldwide Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers.
"New GPUs, new games, added support for ray-tracing, and the growth in demand have also led to an increase in average selling prices during 2020 and will likely remain at these elevated levels in 2021."
Looking ahead, IDC expects the gaming market to remain a bright spot after the overall PC market returns to more normal replacement cycles after the pandemic.
While gaming desktops will continue to fade in favour of notebooks, their demise will be more than made up for by notebooks and monitors, IDC said.
The gaming monitor market is expected to see a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 10 per cent, said IDC. Adding that it expects this momentum to carry forward as global volumes reach 72.9 million in 2025 with a CAGR of 5.8 per cent.
"Much like the notebook market, monitors also faced panel component shortages and surging demand," said Jay Chou, Research Manager for IDC's Worldwide PC Monitor Tracker.
"OEMs (Original equipment manufacturers) have to be wise about where to allocate scarce resources and it makes sense to meet gaming display demand as commercial buying and office occupancy in many markets remains weak. IDC expects gaming monitors to capture an increasingly larger share of the total monitor market in the years ahead."
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Gaming notebooks remained the biggest volume driver through a year marked by home restrictions, according to IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Gaming Tracker.
Despite being affected by display panel shortages through much of the year, gaming notebooks grew a record 26.9 per cent in 2020 as consumers appreciated their versatility for both work and play.
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Aside from the sheer volume, 2020 brought other milestones that could alter future trends.
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"Unfortunately, the supply of gaming PCs has tumbled recently and while crypto-mining may be partially to blame, the sheer demand for these products and growth in the player base is more likely the root cause of the shortages," said Jitesh Ubrani, Research Manager for IDC's Worldwide Mobile and Consumer Device Trackers.
"New GPUs, new games, added support for ray-tracing, and the growth in demand have also led to an increase in average selling prices during 2020 and will likely remain at these elevated levels in 2021."
Looking ahead, IDC expects the gaming market to remain a bright spot after the overall PC market returns to more normal replacement cycles after the pandemic.
While gaming desktops will continue to fade in favour of notebooks, their demise will be more than made up for by notebooks and monitors, IDC said.
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For example, IDC expects gaming monitor volume will exceed that of gaming desktops for the first time in 2021.The gaming monitor market is expected to see a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 10 per cent, said IDC. Adding that it expects this momentum to carry forward as global volumes reach 72.9 million in 2025 with a CAGR of 5.8 per cent.
"Much like the notebook market, monitors also faced panel component shortages and surging demand," said Jay Chou, Research Manager for IDC's Worldwide PC Monitor Tracker.
"OEMs (Original equipment manufacturers) have to be wise about where to allocate scarce resources and it makes sense to meet gaming display demand as commercial buying and office occupancy in many markets remains weak. IDC expects gaming monitors to capture an increasingly larger share of the total monitor market in the years ahead."
SEE ALSO:
NASA estimates the pandemic ballooned costs by $3 billion — here are the projects to take the biggest hit
A $5.5 billion British fintech start up may have 200 jobs to offer in India
For Revolut, India is just the first in a series of countries it plans to enter in the next 18 months
Advertisement