Raptr Survey: 74% of Gamers will Upgrade Hardware in Next 12 Months

Online gaming service Raptr has come out with some interesting data regarding consumer spending on video game hardware and software. Headlining this data is information that 74 percent of gamers plan to upgrade their PC hardware and/or console within the next 12 months.

Raptr surveyed 5,594 of its subscribers who self-identified as playing games on PC and console. Of these, over 23 percent play on eighth-generation consoles including the Wii U, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

That 23 percent will increase significantly through 2014 and into 2015 with Playstation 4 and Xbox One early in their growth stage. Raptr found that 20.6 percent of participants plan to purchase a new console in the next 12 months, although this could mean part of that 23 percent may buy another current-gen console.

Hardware sales will also see some growth. 39 percent of participants plan to upgrade their video card, though the survey did not conclude which generation of GPU (i.e. NVIDIA GTX-7 or GTX-8 series) gamers are most likely to upgrade to. 18.4 percent of the total surveyed indicated they plan to buy an entirely new PC.

Breaking down the spendings per consumer between the past 12 months and the next 12 months, participants reported spending less on PC games, less on previous-gen console games, and more on current-gen console games.

Here’s a breakdown:

Estimated spending per participant over the past 12 months:

• PC games: $350.52.
• Current generation console games: $267.94.
• Older generation console games: $131.67.

Projected spending over the next 12 months:

• PC games: $317.28.
• Current generation console games: $295.70.
• Older generation console games: $76.10.

It’s not surprising to see gamers spending more on current-gen games with Playstation 4 and Xbox One about to expand their games libraries, and with Wii U consistently releasing first-party exclusives.

What’s interesting about gamers branching out to new consoles is that they still may resort to PC for multiplatform games. 55.3 percent of participants stated they chose their system for a multiplatform game based on the game’s higher levels of performance or better graphics for that system – something that is mostly prevalent in PC games. 17 percent chose a particular system for its controller or input device, 9.7 percent for their friends playing the game on a particular system, and 9 percent for its lower cost on a given system – something Steam and PC gaming often produce.

You can check out more of the survey results here.

So does anything about this data jump out at you? I suppose I can make the 0.7 mile journey to Raptr’s Mountain View, CA headquarters, so feel free to post a question or comment.

- Nick "stuBEEF" Pinkerton.