Personal computer games

PC games, also known as computer games or personal computer games, are video games played on a personal computer rather than a dedicated video game console or arcade machine. Their defining characteristics include a lack of any centralized controlling authority, a greater degree of user control over the video-gaming hardware and software used and a generally greater capacity in input, processing, and output.

Home computer games became popular following the video game crash of 1983 leading to the era of the "bedroom coder". In the 1990s, PC games lost mass-market traction to console games before enjoying a resurgence in the mid-2000s through digital distribution.

Newzoo, reports that gaming (on all platforms) is a US$99.6 billion dollar industry, and that as of 2016, "mobile gaming will take a larger share than PC with $36.9 billion, up 21.3% globally." PC is considered synonymous (by them and others) with IBM PC compatible systems; while mobile computers – smartphones and tablets, such as those running Android or iOS – are also personal computers. The "APAC" region is estimated to generate $46.6 billion in 2016, or 47% of total global game revenues (note, not only "PC" games). China alone accounts for half of APAC's revenues, reaching $24.4 billion, cementing its place as the largest games market in the world, ahead of the US's anticipated market size of $23.5 billion.

The uncoordinated nature of the PC game market and its lack of physical media make precisely assessing its size difficult.

Although personal computers only became popular with the development of the microprocessor and microcomputer, computer gaming on mainframes and minicomputers had previously already existed. OXO, an adaptation of tic-tac-toe for the EDSAC, debuted in 1952. Another pioneer computer game was developed in 1961, when MIT students Martin Graetz and Alan Kotok, with MIT student Steve Russell, developed Spacewar! on a PDP-1 mainframe computer used for statistical calculations.

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