14 DAY TRIAL // The worldwide economic recession is either winding down or somehow making more money move into the hands of people who have no qualms about seeing it go in exchange for high-end hardware.
Jon Peddie Research studied how many people spend money on expensive hardware and found that PC parts used by gamers will reach $23.6 Billion this year.
The Enthusiast and Performance class PC gamers are those people who spend over $1000 / 800-1000 Euro on high-end hardware.
And by hardware, we mean powerful central processing units (CPUs) from AMD and Intel, graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA, feature-packed motherboards (ASUS, ECS, Biostar, MSI, etc.), DDR3 RAM, etc.
We also can't forget about the many coolers and gaming peripherals (mice, keyboards, headsets, wheels, etc.) that Cooler Master, Razer, Mad Catz and their ilk are dealing in.
Add to that Full HD and UHD displays, with or without 3D support, and there are lots of expensive hardware parts for gamers to buy.
There are also lots of games to act as an incentive for getting a new system, both up for sale and on the way. Far Cry 3, Crysis 3, ARMA 3, rFactor 2, BioShock Infinite and Interstellar Marines are just a few future titles.
All in all, the stage has been set for huge sales of gaming and performance hardware. Jon Peddie Research believes that 2012 alone will see this market hitting $23.6 billion.
"We are witnessing the market morph and grow into different areas," said Ted Pollak, senior gaming analyst.
"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 believes there are 54 million Performance and Enthusiast class PC gamers worldwide, a number set to increase to 72 million by 2015.