3 Genres Dominating the PC Gaming Market in 2024

PC gaming is often considered superior to console gaming. For many PC gamers, the hardware flexibility, performance, and graphics vastly outweigh the capabilities of consoles like Xbox and PlayStation – not to mention the backward compatibility and mod options.

We don’t have much to say about that—other than it’s all true—but we are sure that PCs will remain one of the most popular gaming devices in 2024, with 1.86 billion PC gamers worldwide. What’s interesting, too, is that these gamers’ preferences are different from those of console gamers.

We’re not sure why, but the genres dominating the PC gaming market are far more diverse, with strategy, simulation games, and MMOs being some of the biggest hitters. With this in mind, we wanted to look into the three genres dominating the PC gaming market in 2024 and why they might be more popular on the PC than the console.

Casual Gaming

Starting with an easy one. The rise of ‘casual gaming’ started in the 1990s, when players used to spark up their PCs to play short, easy-to-pick-up sessions of online games. This is where the online casino industry started, and over the last twenty-odd years, it has never really died.

Some of the most popular platforms have thousands of casual games and slots – check out the JohnSlots reviews at www.johnslots.com/en/ for examples of the very best of the internet’s offerings – and all of them have a broad appeal for gamers not looking for deep, complex gameplay experiences, but quick games they can sink their teeth into now and then.

Why is this genre more popular on the PC than on the console? The answer is simple: you can only play these short, casual games on the PC! Sure, there might be mini-games and casino simulations available in the Microsoft store, but for people wanting the real deal—and the chance to win real money, the PC will always be king for the casual gaming genre.

RPG

The RPG is another king of the PC gaming market. These games are known for their deep narrative engagement, intricate character development, and rich, fantastical worlds. While it differs in many ways from the casual gaming genre we were just talking about, there are elements that they share, and perhaps that explains their immense popularity on the PC.

Take The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, for instance. This is one of the most popular RPGs of all time, complete with a huge open world, interesting characters and beasts, a compelling storyline, and excellent graphics. But gamers don’t often focus on the story or gameplay when they express their enjoyment. A lot of the time, they talk about how fun it is to simply walk around the world, taking everything in, trying a spot of fishing, or playing games in bars with other NPCs.

With this in mind, games like The Witcher 3 can be casual games, as well as in-depth role-playing ones. You can log on for half an hour and simply wander, and that’s what makes games like this so versatile and enjoyable, at least for the PC crowd.

Strategy Gaming

From casual games and RPGs, however, we stumble upon a more intense genre: strategy. For those unaware, strategy games present players with challenges like planning, resource management, and tactical decision-making. Essentially, the player is put in charge of creating entire worlds and cities, and then protecting them from a variety of scenarios.

Whether it’s Civilisation VI, Crusader Kings III or Rise of Kingdoms, these games take a lot of brain power and will to really connect with, making them great options for PC gamers wanting to challenge their abilities. As for why they work particularly well on PC, the hardware has a lot to do with it. The precision and control offered by a mouse and keyboard setup make complex actions and decision-making far smoother and more intuitive.

Some strategy games were very popular on the PS4, but even during that phase, the PC world showed more interest. As well as the hardware, the processing power of PCs also support more sophisticated AI, larger maps, and more complex simulations, which are all important for strategy games offering a rich, immersive experience – the same games on Xbox One launched with errors that, although patched, demonstrated the PC’s superiority.For strategy enthusiasts who thrive on managing intricate systems, the PC is the perfect device to do so.

Conclusion

These are the three most popular genres on PC right now, but there are many more. The shooter remains a strong choice, with first-person games like Halo and Counterstrike, and third-person games like Gears of War and Uncharted being particular favorites. The adventure genre is also another key category, with games emphasizing story-driven experiences rather than reflex-based challenges.

The truth is, the PC gaming world is just as eclectic and interesting as the console gaming one. It’s not really a competition, of course. But in terms of the games and the amount of genres PCs can offer, it’s fair to say they’d be ahead of the pack if it was!