Different gaming platforms appeal to different players and accessibility plays a huge role in the success of many, the past few years have had a huge focus on the successes found in mobile gaming and the growing numbers that are being pulled in, similarly this holiday season has seen news in the dedicated console space as both Sony and Microsoft had launched their newest offerings – and not to forget about Nintendo who have been riding the hugely successful Switch which has been hitting record sales and had been quietly outselling even the newest consoles.
A big success throughout 2020 had come through for PC gaming, however, as many newer players are starting to adopt the platform and find the benefits that come with PC gaming – in 2020 alone, popular platform Steam reported that they had hit a record 120 million monthly users, with an all time high of 24.8 million concurrent users – numbers that register higher than both dedicated console platforms.
(Image from techspot.com)
The other big success story for PC gaming has come through the growing world of esports, whilst numbers have been steadily increasing over the past decade since the more widespread inception as streaming grew alongside it, with the three biggest games pulling in hundreds of thousands of viewers per event with some finals even pulling in the millions, it’s no surprise that change is happening. One of the first big events of the calendar year is closing in too as IEM returns to Katowice for the Counter-Strike major, with many new viewers and punters looking to bet on IEM Katowice too as interests around doing so are growing.
Much of last years success can be pinned on the increasing free time many had as lockdown efforts were put in place and allowed for many to chase their hobbies and passions in gaming, but other changes have also had a big impact – the postponements and cancellations of many traditional sporting events and the closure of many different forms of entertainment caused a shift, this led many new viewers to turn to spaces such as esports and turn to different forms of gaming to stay busy throughout this period with the two crossovers meeting – viewers of these titles looking for the entertainment, and the ability to access these games for free.
It’s largely expected that the growth will continue well in to the new year too as attitudes toward gaming have been changing as a whole, and whilst platforms like mobile will continue to remain the more accessible choice for the majority of players, spending a little extra on a dedicated gaming PC is something certainly looking more appealing to many as costs adjust and become more accessible too.
