Pro mice: an increasingly rare species
Why has the professional mouse market shrunk and gaming mouse market boomed?
Growing from a once niche market segment into a monster of immense proportions with significant market value and industry influence, the computer gaming sector has taken over many facets of focus within the computing world. Not surprisingly, the very device used to interact with the majority of computer games has got a thorough once-, twice-, thrice-over, looking for ways to improve, innovate and escalate the capability of what was once a simple device.
This swell of gaming-centric mice has not only diminished the professional-specific focused products within the market but also given them a solid run for their money — literally. Where there is demand, a market will grow. And this statement couldn’t be truer for the computer gaming sector.
Reports from numerous sources ranging from research firms to game publishers and distribution networks, have all concluded — for a number of years now — that the yearon-year growth of the computer gaming sector (not just PC gaming, but inclusive of mobile, social media and so on) is immense and seemingly not slowing down any time soon, with gaming on a PC-type device at the forefront!
Looking at one of the industry’s broadest-reaching reports by Super Data, the video game market’s total digital revenue increased year-on-year in November 2016 to $6.7 billion. In this same period Premium PC gaming (such as Battlefield 1 and The Witcher 3) saw 18% market growth year-on-year, slipping just behind mobile gaming growth, which hit 19% and has been the historic leader of recent years. This step behind mobile gaming is a minor slip for PC gaming after beating mobile gaming market value by a healthy $10 billion in a strong 2015 showing, scoring $35 billion versus $25 billion.
It’s not just about market value either; it’s the substantial swarm of players, too. The top four PC games by player count per month account for 185 million unique players across the titles. While there would be some overlap of the player base within that figure (i.e. a player owns and plays both League of Legends and Overwatch but is a unique player of each), PC gaming is nonetheless a hugely powerful force to be reckoned with, a market to be explored and, from the vendor perspective, milked.
To illuminate the matter a bit more clearly, these are the topfour online PC games by player count:
League of Legends — 100 million players per month Hearthstone — 50 million players per month Overwatch — 20 million players per month DOTA 2 — 15 million players per month
Seeing the figures, it’s easier to understand why seemingly every tech company is introducing gaming peripheral products to its lineup. From memory vendors to display vendors, it appears everyone wants a piece of the gaming peripheral market and the humble mouse is no longer so humble anymore, taking centre stage along with the spotlight.
The continued market growth in terms of both player base (market density) and value has been a huge driving force behind innovation and development of gaming mice specific to the needs of not just gamers in general, but gamers across the three core sub-genres; first person shooter (FPS), massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) and massive online battle arenas (MOBAs).
This has introduced significant choice to the broader computer mouse market and for this the consumer and enduser has gained opportunity and selection for their unique needs and wants. While it may be frustrating seeing “gaming” plastered on everything, the next time it annoys you, just read it as “developed and focused”. At the end of the day, a button still goes click and a pointer still gets moved on screen.