Jon Peddie Research (JPR),has released their market forecast for PC gaming hardware and it is indeed a rosy view of the market. They believe that hardware for PC gaming is booming and expect a  $1.2 billion improvement for 2009, roughly 6% over last year. They state that the increase is due to higher than anticipated consumer demand for Enthusiast, Performance, and Mainstream hardware influenced by the ability to play video games ranging from casual to hardcore simulations.

Not to mention the price of new hardware is fairly high. Places like Alienware and the newly announced Origin PC are selling computers that could ring up to the tune of $3000 - 5000 if you stocked them completely full and included all the peripherals.

They also expect mass growth next year, up to 30%. Senior Video Game Industry Analyst at JPR, Ted Pollak, credits this growth to a number of factors. “The largest influence on the high forecasted growth rate is due to purchasing delays for systems and upgrades in 2008/2009 as consumers circled the wagons and took a conservative position on discretionary spending. A recovering economy, processing advancements, and higher quality gaming offerings will all contribute to a healthy year for PC gaming hardware in 2010.”

“The PC gaming market continues to be the high growth, and technological leader for home entertainment. With Windows 7 and DirectX 11, advanced and exciting physics, and stereovision capabilities, the PC platform is far and away the most advanced,” noted Jon Peddie President of Jon Peddie Research. “And, the PC has the added advantage that when not used for gaming, it can be used for more practical purposes, and/or as a media center.”

That’s certainly some seriously optimistic research indeed. I’m curious how they determine a gaming PC versus other PCs. I remember sitting in on a Gaming PC industry panel and the determiner at the time was if the computer is DirectX 9 compatible. But just because a PC can use it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s being purchased for gaming. So I would take these numbers with a grain of salt. I doubt that all $27B in hardware is actually going to be purchased with gaming in mind.