PC gaming is mainstream. Now what?

Gaming IndustryPC gaming is mainstream. Now what?When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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Even Satan himself has discovered the joy of PC gaming. (Smiling Friends S1E8, from 2022.)(Image credit: Adult Swim / WB Discovery)

satan sitting at a PC with two monitors surrounded by dishes, in a gaming chair

An official Valve gaming handheld, clearly visible for eight seconds of an 11-minute cartoon?Truly, this was the moment PC gaming became mainstream.

(Image credit: MAX / Warner Bros. Discovery)

a screengrab from the Smiling Friends season 2 finale

I mean, the South Park WoW episode aired in2006, woof. You’d think we PC gamers would be feeling seen at this point.

If I sound insecure, it’s because the notion of PC gaming becoming genuinely mainstream felt like the furthest thing from possible for a very long time. If you were a PC gamer from 1993 to 2010, you know what it was like to feel like you were the strange creature among your friend group who played games on a keyboard and didn’t have strong opinions about the uneven power levels of the Smash Bros. roster. The nature of PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo as global products predisposed them to becoming household names, and the vast marketing supporting them understandably eclipsed PC gaming for most of the last 30 years.

PC gaming couldn’t replicate Mario’s marketing, but we could recreate him in the aggregate.

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In retrospect, maybe PC gaming went mainstream the moment that licensed NFL skins were available in Fortnite.(Image credit: Epic Games)

Fortnite NFL promotional image

When did PC gaming become mainstream?

I think the factors that produced the wider recognition and adoption that PC gaming enjoys today reached critical mass around 2019. The tailwinds of PUBG and Fortnite behind it, this was the year where so many things seemed to coalesce, fromSony’s surprising moveto publish most of its games on PC, Discord’s dominance as a chat app that also works on your phone, crossplay, and the continued outperformance of small-studio games like Slay the Spire.

Here’s my attempt to compress the last three decades into a highlight reel:

1993-1999: PC Gaming’s First Golden Age

2005-2012: The Dark Times

Originallyintended as a console port, CS:GO’s introduction of loot boxes in 2013 (one year after launch) sparked tremendous interest in the shooter remake, paving the way for the biggest esports scene an FPS had ever enjoyed and wider interest in competitive shooters globally.(Image credit: Valve)

Three of the agents from CS:GO’s operation Riptide pose with their guns menacingly.

2014-2018: Rebirth

2019-Present: PC Gaming’s Second Golden Age

Even with much left out, the line of dominoes that led us to where we are is surprisingly long. It wasn’t one giant announcement made at E3 or the launch of one GPU that elevated PC gaming—it was an accumulation of many, often competing trends, games, genres, policies, and technologies from many people and groups, often not moving in lockstep, but nevertheless together contributing to the meaning of this open gaming platform.

PC gaming couldn’t replicate Mario’s marketing, but we could recreate him in the aggregate.

the film Moneyball with Jonah Hill’s character pointing at a screenshot of stardew valley on a bulletin board

Now what?

The trends that produced this age are still in play, and to my eyes, don’t show signs of disappearing. Let’s take stock of them:

Small studios will continue to enjoy parity with the biggest publishers in the world, partly because their development timelines allow them to react to trends more quickly. There will be a steady beat of unexpected hits—more Balatros, Valheims, Vampire Survivors, and Lethal Companies. The still-increasing accessibility of the tools used to make and publish those games will continue to invite the 20-year-olds of the world to makeScary Thomas The Tank Engine FPSes.

All this stuff will sustain PC gaming’s booming popularity. As a set of trends, they aren’t surprising, but they are heartening. I mean, I don’tneeda Marvel movie star toprofess their lifelong love for StarCraftin order to know that I’m playing games in the best place, but I won’t complain.

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When did PC gaming become mainstream?#

Now what?#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

When did PC gaming become mainstream?

Now what?