Like many segments, gaming had a strong pandemic as locked-down
consumers splurged on notebooks, monitors, graphics cards and more.
But during 2023 to date, most categories have been hovering below the
Index Revenue Trend baseline. That means revenue sales have yet to
reach the monthly revenue average for 2021.
However, the good news
is that there are signs of improvement in revenue sales performance
across Europe's biggest markets, especially in gaming monitors.
No mid-market for graphics cards
Year-on-year revenue sales of mice were perhaps most impressive in
July 2023, approaching the index baseline. Elsewhere, monitors,
notebooks, keyboards and keypads, and graphics cards all showed an
upward trend in sales performance. When it comes to graphics cards it
is the high-end gaming UHD-capable kit that is doing best, although
still at an index figure of -60.
The challenge is that prices are generally high, which can be a tough
sell to cash-conscious consumers. In fact, there doesn't really exist
a mid-market in gaming cards at present, with current generation
products being priced much closer to the high-end than previous
generations. However, we expect improved performance in Q4 ahead of a
predicted new generation of products next year.
Country by country
Looking at the biggest markets in Europe, the picture is not much
better for gaming cards at present. Only in the UK and Poland did
September revenue sales figures creep above 2022 performance. In Spain
in August they were level pegging. No country came close to reaching
the 2021 index baseline.
However, it's a much more optimistic picture in gaming monitors,
where only the UK struggled in August to beat August 2022 performance.
France and Poland even managed to reach the 2021 baseline, with
Germany heading in that direction. There's plenty to be optimistic
about as we head into the final quarter of the year.
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