The gaming PC market is booming. The global PC gaming market is projected at $96.69 billion in 2026, growing at an 8.52% CAGR through 2034. Hardware sales have never been stronger. PC gaming hardware sales hit $44.5 billion in 2025, a record 35% year-over-year increase.
Yet this growth masks a widening problem for ordinary gamers. According to research from Jon Peddie Research, the high-end portion of this market is well over twice the size of entry-level and midrange combined. This represents a long-term trend. This has been a trend occurring for the past decade, as the vast majority of high-end systems are purchased specifically for gaming.
The shift upmarket reflects the priorities of manufacturers and enthusiasts. The high-end and extreme high-end range (more than $1000) segment contributed a 51.5% share to the gaming PC market in 2025, driven by demand for premium hardware for immersive gaming experiences. Meanwhile, budget-conscious gamers find their options shrinking. Industry analyst Gartner predicts that the sub-$500 entry-level PC segment will disappear by 2028, a troubling forecast for anyone hoping to build an affordable gaming machine.
Where are the affordable options?
This is where ARM processors enter the picture. ARM chips power smartphones and some laptops, and theoretically could enable cheaper gaming PCs. Jon Peddie Research projects that ARM-based gaming systems could reach $1.5 billion in value by 2028, suggesting genuine market potential. JPR model sees a staggering 31% CAGR in notebooks, which are the largest absolute Arm category, and a 49% CAGR for desktops in 2024 to 2028.
The challenge is that these projections rest on assumptions that may not hold. There are very few proper PC games that are compiled natively for Arm chips. That means gaming on Arm PCs right now means emulating x86 code on Arm CPU cores. Software compatibility remains the critical problem. Microsoft's Prism translation layer for running x86 PC games on Arm CPUs is a bit hit and miss.
Nvidia is preparing an ARM-based chip called the N1X, which could deliver meaningful performance. GB10 has a GPU that's basically identical to an RTX 5070 desktop GPU. Yet even this promising development faces scepticism. Given JPR itself is expecting the gaming market to grow substantially in the next few years from those current levels, that $1.5 billion's worth of Arm-based gaming PCs in 2028 will therefore only represent a few percentage points of the market.
A market optimised for the wealthy
The real-world data shows a market optimised for players with money to spend. JPR projects a healthy 10.67% CAGR in hardware spending through 2028, driving the market toward a total addressable value of roughly $52 billion. Meanwhile, those seeking a budget gaming PC face difficult choices: wait for ARM platforms that may not deliver on their promises, or accept that entry-level gaming on PC is becoming a luxury good.
This concentration of wealth in the high-end segment is not inherently bad. Enthusiasts deserve powerful systems, and competition for their dollars drives innovation that eventually reaches mass market products. But it does raise a legitimate question about access. Gaming is increasingly presented as a competitive pursuit requiring thousands in hardware investment. For players in developing markets or those with limited budgets, this shift represents a genuine barrier to participation.
The optimistic case is that ARM processors will materialise as promised, bringing genuine affordability to 2028 and beyond. The more conservative reading of current market trends suggests that gaming PCs are following the trajectory of graphics cards: premium products for those who can afford them, with budget options becoming scarcer each year. Until ARM platforms prove themselves in real-world gaming, scepticism about the salvation narrative is warranted.