Intel Arc Eats into AMD Radeon GPU Market Share | Layoffs Rattle the Esports Market
GPU
Intel Arc Eats into AMD Radeon GPU Market Share Report: GPU growth through 2026 projected to be nearly flat
Market Share – with Some Caveats
Intel finished Q4 2022 with an estimated 9% of dedicated desktop GPU shipments, matching AMD’s market share. Nvidia maintained its stranglehold on the segment with 82% market share. It's a significant milestone given Intel's tardy return to the discrete GPU market. If you’re Intel, this is confirmation that focusing Arc on budget gamers – not premium or enthusiast customers – was the best decision.
- A Happy Accident: That Intel Arc targeted budget gamers was partly the result of underwhelming performance.
- Selling Arc at “budget gaming” prices also lost Intel hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Going Overseas: Many of Intel’s shipments were in overseas markets that are less competitive than the US or European markets.
Shipment numbers don’t tell the full story. For example, Nvidia and AMD have both lagged in launching affordable, non-enthusiast video cards this generation. If Intel Arc continues to improve on the software side and aggressively price its GPUs, AMD has a real challenge on its hands. The Red Team may find itself battling Intel in the budget and mainstream space while it struggles on the high-end against Nvidia.
Notebooks Feel the Most Pain
Total GPU shipments – which includes integrated graphics – fell 38% YoY in Q4. Notebooks performed the worst, with a precipitous 43% drop in GPU shipments, almost double the 24% slump for desktop graphics. The small silver lining here is that these figures are more a reflection of the health of the PC market, rather than of the gaming segment specifically.
Console Figures Offer Some Hope
Gaming companies in the PC space can take a little solace in the global console market's performance. Total revenue dropped 7.8% YoY to 56.2%, with console hardware sales "only" down 10% to $17.6 billion, according to Ampere Analysis, with Piers Harding-Rolls partly attributed this decline to insufficient supply of consoles. This context suggests that even as PC sales stay depressed, gaming will be more resilient. Additionally, subscription services were the only segment to see growth (5.6%) in 2022. This represents an opportunity in the PC space that has yet to be fully tapped into.
-Avery Bissett, Head Writer
Esports
Layoffs Rattle the Esports Market Beyond the Summit and The Guard's mass layoffs are unlikely to be the last
The Writing on the Wall
The layoffs themselves don’t come as a surprise, even if the scale is staggering (Beyond the Summit let its entire full-time staff go). January saw layoffs from esports and lifestyle companies like 100 Thieves and OpTic Gaming, as well as the esports division of League of Legends publisher Riot Games.
As we wrote in November, without the lucrative broadcast deals and in-person revenue that traditional sports rely on, the deck was already stacked against many esports companies. When starting a franchise in a top tier competition can mean paying out eight figures before a single player is even signed, it’s difficult to envision a quick path to profitability – or simply breaking even – for many esports properties. The overall economic slowdown impacting gaming was simply the tipping point.
An Opportunity for Buyers
Last week’s layoffs weren’t the first, and they unfortunately will not be the last this year. Many companies are going to have to confront the reality that the promise of esports becoming “the next big thing” hasn't materialized. If there's an opportunity, it will be for buyers. Investing in or sponsoring an esport team is about to become less expensive, and there will be no shortage of esports franchises looking to shore up their revenue.
- Saudi Arabia’s promise to invest $533 million in esports is going to be even more impactful.
- The esports industry may have no choice but to gravitate toward the Middle Eastern market.
-Avery Bissett, Head Writer
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Supply Drop: Games & Players
Upcoming Games (March 3 - 9)
Deck 'Em! – PC
Do Not Feed the Monkeys 2099 – PC
Masterplan Tycoon – PC
Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories – PC
Oni: Road to the Mightiest Oni – PC, PlayStation, Switch
Outlanders – PC
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo – PC, Switch
Project Zero: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse – PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Pronty – Switch
Session: Skate Sim – Switch
Tiny Troopers: Global Ops – PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Train Life: A Railway Simulator – Switch
Transport Fever 2 Console Edition – PlayStation, Xbox
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty – PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Comms: Social Campaigns
The Tap: News to Go
- CPU: AMD is running a bundle through April 1 to drive sales of its Ryzen 7000 processors, which require a new AM5 motherboard and more expensive DDR5 memory. Customers will be receive up to $125 off a motherboard and memory kit and a copy of Star Wars Jedi: Survivor with the purchase of a Ryzen 7000 processor. (Courtesy of Tom's Hardware)
- VR/AR: Meta laid out its timeline for VR/AR platforms in an internal roadmap. The Meta Quest 3 is targeting a launch later this year, with the goal of twice the performance of the $399 Meta Quest 2 and only a slight price increase. It is to be followed in 2024 by an even more accessible headset, Ventura, that will target the wider VR market. The company admitted, however, that its current VR headsets are struggling to retain users. (Courtesy of The Verge)
- Esports: The International Olympic Committee announced further details for the Olympic Esports Series 2023. The series will features games across nine sports; for example, Just Dance and Tennis Clash will represent dance and tennis, respectively.
- Games: Hogwarts Legacy sold 12 million copies and pulled in $850 million worldwide in its first two weeks after launch. The game launched to controversy related to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling. (Courtesy of Video Games Chronicle)
