Even with the PC’s strong appeal as a game device, PC entertainment software sales were expected to grow less rapidly than those of console video game software ( see Exhibit 8 ). The ratio of entertainment software units to hardware units was much lower for PCs than for video game consoles. The typical buyer of a video game console purchased two to three software titles in the first year, one to two in the second year, and one or two per year thereafter. The cumulative tie ratio was about 4.5-6.6 (see Exhibit 9). PlayStation was tracking far ahead of his rate-it already exceeded five units of software for each unit of hardware sold. Analysts projected this ratio would increase to nine software titles per hardware unit in 2000. N-64 was below this average, due to its relatively small library, but its tie ratio was expected to approach 7:1 in 2000.
PC buyers, however, don’t appear to purchase as much software. The tie ratio of cumulative PC entertainment software units to hardware units was much lower, although IDC/LINK forecasted that it would rise ( see Exhibit 10).