Worldwide Technology Leaders Launch Industry Consortium to Advance PC Gaming Platform,...

Worldwide Technology Leaders Launch Industry Consortium to Advance PC Gaming Platform, PC Gaming Experiences

United Industry Effort Will Accelerate Innovation, Spur PC Gaming
Development
SAN FRANCISCO--(Business Wire)--
Global leaders of the PC gaming industry announced today the
formation of the PC Gaming Alliance, a non-profit organization that
unites hardware and software creators, game developers and publishers,
and others committed to the PC gaming market with the common purpose
of advancing the PC as a worldwide gaming platform.

Together, PCGA and its member companies will work to accelerate
innovation, improve the gaming experience for consumers and serve as a
collective source of market information and expertise on PC gaming.
Members of PCGA are Acer Inc./Gateway Inc., Activision Publishing
Inc., AMD, Dell/Alienware, Epic Games, Intel Corp., Microsoft Corp.,
NVIDIA Corp. and Razer USA Ltd.

The PC gaming market is a multi-billion dollar industry with
hundreds of millions of gamers worldwide. Leading research firm DFC
Intelligence calls PC gaming "one of the fastest-growing segments of
the interactive entertainment market" and projects that the PC game
business will grow more than 80 percent over the next five years, with
major increases in the number of PC gamers, revenue from digital
distribution, and PC hardware sales.

PCGA is the first and only industry organization devoted to the PC
gaming industry. It will focus on driving coordinated marketing and
promotion of PC gaming, consistent and accurate reporting of PC gaming
market sizing and research, and creating forums for member companies
to cooperate on solutions to challenges facing the PC gaming industry,
such as hardware requirements, anti-piracy, and more. PCGA will
develop and promote guidelines and recommendations and foster
information sharing between members to accelerate the PC gaming
industry.

"PCGA members believe that we are stronger and more effective
together than any member company is alone, and that our shared vision
and group effort will improve PC gaming worldwide," said Randy Stude,
director of the Gaming Program Office at Intel. "Industry forums have
proven to foster competition and innovation among member companies and
grow markets while improving user experiences."

"Microsoft is a strong believer in the PC as a platform for
gaming, and the formation of PCGA is a major step forward for our
industry and for PC gamers," said Kevin Unangst, senior global
director of Games for Windows at Microsoft. "Working together, we have
an exponentially greater opportunity to propel the PC gaming
experience to new heights."

Consumers will benefit from this cross-company cooperation and
shared focus to deliver better gaming experiences on their PCs.

"This collaboration will provide developers and publishers with a
champion for consistent demographics, hardware adoption, and revenue
measurement and reporting," said David Cole, an analyst with DFC
Intelligence. "An authoritative source of information on the PC as a
gaming platform will serve as an invaluable catalyst for growing the
market and improving the consumers' PC gaming experience."

The members developed the PCGA charter and organized the
consortium, which is open to any industry stakeholder interested in
furthering the PCGA mission to advance the PC gaming platform
worldwide.

For more information, or to become a PCGA member, visit
www.pcgamingalliance.org.

About PCGA

The PC Gaming Alliance is a non-profit organization formed by the
PC gaming industry to advance the PC as a worldwide gaming platform.
The open and cross-company alliance includes hardware and software
makers, game developers and publishers, and others committed to the
success of the PC gaming market. The PCGA mission is to accelerate
innovation, improve the gaming experience for consumers and act as the
industry's authoritative source of expertise, information and analysis
for PC gaming. It is headquartered in San Ramon, Calif. For more
information, see www.pcgamingalliance.org.

Product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of
their respective owners.

Global Inventures for PCGA
Alisa Hicks, 775-720-5071
ahicks@inventures.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008