PC Gaming Alliance Boasts 11 Billion Dollar Revenue for PC Gaming in 2008

For quite some time, PC gaming has entered a cone of shadow, largely due to quite a lot of developers complaining about the high piracy rate and how people prefer to download their games off of the Internet, either legally or illegally. These developers are now focusing on bringing their games to consoles due to their much lower piracy rates, and the relative ease to program for these platforms.

But this doesn't mean that the last year was a bad one for PC gaming, as the PC Gaming Alliance, a non-profit organization consisting of various hardware and software companies dedicated to making the platform more popular, has just revealed its report about the PC in 2008 and what were the major trends dominating the gaming market.

The report shows three very interesting issues, with the most important one being the breakthrough of digital distribution, spearheaded by Valve's Steam service, in front of the classic retail market. Another big trend was the growth of free games based on microtransactions in order to generate revenue and, last but not least, the increasing number of game cards at various major retailers, like 7-Eleven.

“The biggest story in PC games is the expansion beyond retail,” said Randy Stude, president of PCGA. “PC games have successfully pioneered online subscription and distribution models that have resulted in a global boom that shows no signs of slowing. Despite the advances of the likes of Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, the online platform that remains the most accessible and robust worldwide is the PC.”

The report also highlights the huge success of MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft, which generated over 1 billion dollars in revenue last year, or two other popular titles like Age of Conan and Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. These western titles, coupled with the increasing popularity of other Asian-developed online ones, meant that online gaming was still right at home on the PC.

All in all, it seems that PC gaming is still doing great, and hopefully this report will show that to developers that have been hesitant to bring their titles on this platform.