90 Million Gaming PCs By 2007

Joystiq has commentary on research by ananlyst group IDC, which states that 90 million 'gaming ready' PCs could be in homes by the end of 2007. From the article: "IDC expects out of those 90 million units that 67% will be Vista Basic and 30% will be Vista Premium (both private consumer versions). Vista requires the PC to have a semi-competent graphics processor, able to push DX9, just to function properly. This could mean the PC gaming market will enjoy more potential customers, especially among more graphically intense programs."

Comments

What Potential!

[AKAImBatman]

This could mean the PC gaming market will enjoy more potential customers

(Emphasis mine.)

The PC Gaming market already "enjoys" a rather massive "potential" market. Yet PC sales are quickly falling to the wayside in favor of console gaming. In fact, most PC Games are either being ported to consoles or are ported from consoles. Which means that there is little advantage to being a PC Gamer unless you're into MMOGs.

A better headline would be, "Casual gaming market gets bigger! Game studios still have no idea how to make money off them!" :-P

That's not the point!

[CTD]

When you are talking about 90 million users, you aren't talking about hardcore gamers with gaming PC's -- you are talking about Joe and Jane Normal, who just want a computer to do basic work and keep the kids quiet/busy at home. That's the mass market -- and if you can deliver quality games that function on those computers (that are bought stock at the retail stores) you are delivering to a huge potential audience -- which makes great business sense.

It's not about those of us who will build our own computers, it's about the Eloi who think Geek Squad is a lifesaver. :)