Enlarge / The innards of one of the many gaming PCs that are selling better than ever, according to JPR. (credit: Flickr / davispuh)

While other market analysts are seeing overall PC sales continue to decline, a new report from Jon Peddie Research (JPR) shows the worldwide market for PC gaming hardware growing faster than expected in 2016.

All told, the market for pre-built and “DIY” gaming-focused PCs (which also includes “upgrades and accessories such as input devices and audio/communication systems”) exceeded $30 billion for the first time last year ($30.346 billion, to be precise), according to JPR’s latest report. That’s well up from the estimated $24.6 billion market for gaming PCs that JPR saw back in 2015. Back then, JPR projected that the PC gaming market wouldn’t pass the $30 billion mark until 2018, meaning the industry has accelerated roughly two years ahead of those old projections.

“The average PC sale is increasingly motivated by the video game use model, which is important to understand in a stagnant or declining overall PC market,” JPR writes in explaining its findings. “As basic computing functions become more entrenched with mobile devices, the PC ultimately becomes a power user’s tool…”