Growth came from both digital distribution and free-to-play

Mar 8, 2012 23:11 GMT  ·  By

The PC Gaming Alliance, a non-profit organization promoting the gaming medium, and market research firm DFC Intelligence have announced that their annual report shows that the PC-based video game industry has managed to create 18.6 billion dollars (14.12 billion Euro) in revenue during 2011.

All the tracked markets have shown an increase in revenue during last year and the overall year-over-year increase is estimated to be of about 15 percent.

The biggest increase has been seen in China, which has grown by 27 percent when compared to 2010 and saw overall revenue of 6 billion dollars (4.55 billion Euro).

The PCGA suggested that the market would be growing to 25.5 billion dollars (19.36 billion Euro) by 2015, an increase of 37 percent.

The PCGA has said that the PC saw strong sales of titles like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, from Infinity Ward and Activision Blizzard, Battlefield 3, from DICE and Electronic Arts, and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim from Bethesda.

Sports games have also sold better than expected on the PC and much of the growth is linked to the rise of the free-to-play business model, which is being used by companies like Zynga, Bigpoint and Riot Games.

Matt Ployhar, who is the president of the PC Gaming Alliance and an analyst, stated, “While reports of gaming sales at retail show signs of struggle, the impact hasn’t been as great for PC Gaming, which had an earlier adoption of newer formats, business-models and delivery with digital distribution, free-to-play and subscriptions fueling PC gaming's strong global growth.”

He added, “Valve's market-leading Steam digital distribution service now reports over 40 million users, and traditional retailers are following suit by investing in this space more heavily such as GameStop’s acquisition of the Impulse digital distribution service. Not only investment dollars, but real revenue and profits, are now being generated solely from purely digital business models, formats, and delivery.”