Jon Peddie Research (JPR) makes it their mission to track hardware sales made by gamers around the world. In one of their latest reports, they estimate that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 will result in nearly 3 billion in PC hardware sales. They expect sales to mostly consist of peripherals such as flight sticks, throttles, VR headsets, and cockpit simulation equipment such as seats and cockpit frames. JPR is expecting a boost for internal compartments in processors, although they did not make a distinction between graphic cards or CPUs.
JPR divided PC gamers into three categories: entry, mid-range, and high-end. The tiers are based on the type and power of the equipment the gamer is using. They did only track people who they call “Economically Active PC gamers.” They define this term as people who actively invest in building or upgrading their current machine and it’s accessories. They found that people who invest more money in computer parts are more likely to enjoy simulation games than those who spend less overall.
Ted Pollak, Senior Analyst Gaming Industry said, “flight simulators are incredibly demanding on processing capability and reward high resolution, large displays, and VR use. When new flight simulators are released, the hardware to run them at max settings and performance does not even exist yet. This creates a situation of constant hardware demand over the life of the title as fans chase the best experience. A significant number of flight sim fans only play flight sim. We took this into account when calculating whether the money will be spent specifically or partially because of this game.”
JPR is basing its report on an assumption that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 to sell 2.27 million units in over three years. They also expect that more parts will be sold after Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has completed its shelf cycle. Jon Peddie. President of JPR expects AMD, Intel, and Nvidia will be the primary beneficiaries of the game as their processors will be in high demand.