PC & Console Gaming Sales Slow Despite Retailers Ramping Up Floor Space

The gaming market is weakening with sales of both consoles and PC gaming machines slowing.

In Australia retailers have moved to expand floor space to accommodate gaming experience centres despite weak sales tipped for the second half of 2019.

Currently PC gaming manufacturers are extending the hardware replacement cycle with competition among vendors “fierce” as the they hunt down market share.

The three big players in the Australian market are Acer, Alienware and MSI with both HP with their Omen range and Lenovo with their new Legion range seen as challenger brands. Also looking for share is ASUS who recently introduced several new gaming PC’s in Australia.

Also impacting the market is the lack of new AAA games from major game designers and the uncertainty created by the US-China trade row.

For retailers gaming is an eco-system sell with accessories such as keyboards, mice, headphones delivering big growth for brands such as Logitech.

According to DigiTimes in Taiwan where most gaming notebooks are manufactured gaming notebook vendors did not achieve shipment growth in the first half of 2019, as demand from major markets including China, Europe, North America and Southeast Asia, was weak.

This has seen brands such as Asustek Computer, Micro-Star International (MSI) and Dell focus primarily on mid-range to high-end models.

In Australia Acer is selling their Predator Nitro into the mid-range market.

Global annual gaming notebook shipments so far still have not yet surpassed one million units, and the total in 2019 is expected to grow only 10%, sources in Taiwan said.

In the console market both Sony and Microsoft will introduce new 8K consoles late in 2020.