The PC Gaming Alliance has selected a new President, just in time to remind everyone that yes, the PC Gaming Alliance is still around.
Remember the PC Gaming Alliance? Don’t feel bad if the answer is no, because despite its self-proclaimed role as the champion of PC gaming around the world, it hasn’t exactly been the industry’s most active organization. The group has made a grand total of four press releases in 2010, one of which was yesterday’s announcement that Randy Stude has been replaced as president of the PCGA by Matt Ployhar, a graphics and gaming industry strategic planner in Intel’s Software and Solutions Group and formerly the chairman of the PCGA’s Data Research subcommittee. Stude will remain with the PCGA as an “active member and contributor.”
Cloyhar said he is “very committed and passionate about growing the relationships necessary with our industry and community leaders to ensure the continued momentum and success of PC gaming worldwide.”
One of the reasons for the relative silence from the PCGA could be the fact that according to its research, PC gaming is in great shape and getting stronger every year. Revenues of “consumer PCs capable of gaming that shipped with a discrete GPU” added up to $54.6 billion in 2009 and are expected to reach $61.3 billion by 2014. “PC gamers are playing a central role in fueling healthier margins and driving innovation in this space worldwide,” Ployhar said in the report.
Still, I can’t help but think that as the supposed standard-bearer of PC gaming, the PC Gaming Alliance could stand to raise its profile a bit. It may be an industry group first and foremost, doing the bulk of its work behind the scenes, but an occasional toot of the horn sure wouldn’t hurt. If nothing else, it might cut down on the “remember the PC Gaming Alliance?” jokes.
