If you didn't know...I work for a PC gaming company.
All our growth isn't in the 'emerging markets'. Argue as you like, but it's a double edged sword: if you claim that all growth is digital, then you must surely know that broadband penetration rates in emerging markets is still pretty bad. That's why in Asia, internet cafes are so popular for gaming.
I'd love to share hard numbers with you, but at least with the company I work for, the vast majority of what we do is in the US, CA and UK.
On the other end, there are so many intangibles with the PC market, it's nearly impossible to get an accurate portrayal. Traditional boxed and downloadable titles are one market, but that doesn't take into consideration sites that are monetized by other means such as a Newgrounds, Kongregate, or our website, InstantAction (it's partially monetized). I'm going to go out on a limb and say that most aggregation are totally missing that....Which is a strength of the PC gaming market.
But having said that, the PC market is dying for the ultra-hardcore games. Blockbusters are going far more toward console development, and guess what that tells me? There's not a lot of money in the traditional PC market. MMOs are too costly to develop, and there are few PC companies left such as Blizzard that are focused souly on that market. One must remember: Blizzard got bought out by a console gaming company, Activision. Why must we assume Blizzard is some sort of pinnacle for profits when Activision did buy them out?
Back from the dead, I'm afraid.
