Gamers remain buyers despite PC volumes decline

Despite desktop and low-end PC shipment declines, gaming mice, keyboards, controllers and other peripherals are growing in shipments and value. For example, while Gartner said traditional PCs are expected to ship 9.4 percent fewer units in 2015 compared with 2014, Logitech saw 24 percent growth in its gaming mouse and keyboard line. That's not an exception, either. Logitech's gaming segment has grown 46 percent since 2013.

What is interesting about Logitech's growth story is that it comes at a time when its competitors are growing stronger, not of increasing competition in the space. Major rivals such as Razer USA, Mad Catz and SteelSeries have recently updated their product lines. Mad Catz saw its sales of PC and Mac gaming mice and keyboards jump by about 42 percent in its most recent fiscal year even as its sales of console peripherals declined and overall revenue remained flat.

This indicates that the mouse and keyboard remain the interface of choice for PC gamers, and that more gamers are purchasing specialized mice and keyboards for that purpose. Additionally, with the global PC gaming market growing to $26 billion in 2014, which is larger than the global console game market, this trend is expected to continue.

There are a few new competitors in the gaming market for the "traditional" mouse and keyboard interface, of course. Valve recently sold out of its initial pre-order production run of the new Steam controller, due out in November. Microsoft recently confirmed that its Xbox One controllers would be PC-compatible as well. Nevertheless, if current trends hold, more PC users as well as more gamers will invest in specialized gaming mice and keyboards in droves.

See a comparison table of selected gaming mouse suppliers from GlobalSources.com