Experts weigh in on 2022's PC gaming scene: Chip shortages, cloud gaming, and which industry giant has the advantage

Rich's Gaming PC Source: Windows Key

2021 has been a heck of a year for just about every entity in the engineering science industry thanks to the global fleck shortage brought about by factors such as the pandemic and never-earlier-seen levels of demand for gadgetry. And at present, 2022 is set to usher in a whole 'nother year of pandemic pandemonium (Omicron or otherwise) and supply chain headaches spawned from the problems of 2022 and 2022.

Only it'due south not all doom and gloom. Heady new technologies are on the rise and 2022 means every company has a chance to steal the limelight and figure out how to best work within the new confines of the tech world, especially in the PC gaming scene. Giants similar Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA are all-in on finding ways to go along profits upward and consumers happy fifty-fifty with supply shortages cropping up everywhere. The question is: Does anyone look to accept an advantage in 2022? And, by extension, what tin can consumers expect forward to in the new year's day? Nosotros reached out to analysts to learn more near what the large players accept in store for PC gaming now that 2022's in the rearview mirror.

Sizing upward the competition

Intel Core i9-12900K Source: Rich Edmonds / Windows Central

There's no dubiousness that all the industry giants have some sort of ace up their sleeve for tackling the problems facing the tech world correct now; it's merely a affair of whose ace is most beneficial when pit confronting the current market landscape. That's why Intel, NVIDIA, and AMD are such an interesting trio of competitors. They have plenty of differences, but when it comes to PC gaming, in that location's a lot of overlap. Of that trio, then, who has the border?

Forrester Annotator Volition McKeon-White shared his grouping'south thoughts on the affair. "Whoever is able to kickoff evening out the supply chain problems will practise the all-time," he said. Considering said supply concatenation issues are afflicting all 3 of the major players in a very existent way when information technology comes to physical hardware product and distribution, McKeon-White posited 2022 doesn't have a clear-cut winner in that infinite. However, he pointed to 2023 equally the year Intel could pull ahead thank you to its electric current investments and efforts in upping production capacity in response to the global semiconductor shortage.

With that said, there are more means than 1 to satisfy gamers' needs. If companies aren't able to beat each other with physical product output, and then it's up to them to assume the reward on a different battleground.

"Everybody is hedging their bets well," McKeon-White said, referencing how the aforementioned 3 companies each accept their hand in a different pot to sustain themselves. AMD has the benefit of beingness inside Xbox Series Xs, Intel has everything from XeSS to its Arc line, and NVIDIA has software solutions such every bit DLSS as well as the power of its GeForce At present feel.

NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 review Source: Harish Jonnalagadda / Windows Central

While all of the same items give their corresponding companies a bit of a safety net, it's the digital toolkits that may stand up out the nearly in 2022 since they sidestep the difficulties facing the hardware market. When discussing NVIDIA'south cloud gaming activities, McKeon-White didn't mince words. "In the interim, I definitely think that it is an edge," he said, pointing out how giving consumers a deject option in the current mural is a serious benefit. He highlighted that the cloud gaming ecosphere has yet to truly prove itself, but that information technology's still a big gain in the short-term and will likely prove to be in the long-term every bit well.

Gartner Senior Director Jon Erensen shared similar sentiments with regards to the advantages of offering streaming options. "I recall NVIDIA has been an early vendor looking at this," he said, referencing the company'south efforts to stay ahead of the pack in that sector. "I recall NVIDIA is in proficient shape from that perspective."

However, an edge is simply that. It's not an all-encompassing foundation capable of remedying the larger issues at play in the industry. "They've all been impacted by this," Erensen said of the chip shortage's cost on gaming companies at large. He posed this question: "Who has the size and scale to actually take outsized influence?"

Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA certainly fit the bill for companies of a scale large enough to ability through the pandemic'south ramifications, but they appear to exist moving at unlike paces in terms of who's best gear up for specific timeframes. 2022's current eyes seem to leave NVIDIA in a good spot cheers to GeForce At present and its digital ambitions, including DLSS. However, in 2023 and beyond, Intel'southward Arc platform could be advantageous once gamers take time to see how it stacks up to the competition and forego their "permit's see how this plays out" approach, equally McKeon-White put information technology.

The upscaled verdict for 2022

AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Source: Windows Central

With regards to digital efforts that'll be helping companies win over consumers in 2022, McKeon-White had positive words for NVIDIA. "What NVIDIA'south been doing with things similar AI — rendering — is very impressive."

Information technology's worth noting that Intel and AMD are developing their own solutions in this department. Team Blue has XeSS, while AMD has FidelityFX Super Resolution. There's a lot to factor in when it comes to the ongoing "AMD FSR vs. NVIDIA DLSS" competition, but the point is that the big three realize AI and software are going to play a big part in the hardware race of 2022 and beyond, and so none of them are dangerously far behind each other in that department.

Consumers tin enjoy these digital, computational innovations throughout 2022 while the globe'due south hardware supplies stabilize, and then there will be items like the best graphics cards to expect forward to. Because even in the current climate, rumors are still swirling that tech such as NVIDIA'due south RTX 40-series GPUs volition be making a 2022 debut.

Rumors and speculation bated, though every company has some sort of advantage, the consensus is that 2022 is still anyone's game thanks to the unusually big array of fluid market variables. Nosotros'll just have to keep watching to detect out who pulls ahead and savor all the fancy new gaming tech that releases along the style.

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