One analyst believes 20 million PC players will abandon the platform for consoles or streaming services in the next three years.

Market analyst Jon Peddie Research has posted a forecast claiming that the PC market is stagnating as innovation slows down and new product releases come further and further apart.

JPR claims that the migration will largely come from players with lower-budget PC builds, as the gap between that hardware and consoles begins to shrink. Allegedly, new entrants to gaming and PC defectors will begin to find TV-based services - whether console or streaming - more affordable.

“The PC market continues to decline because the innovation that took place in the past providing speed ups and clever new things has all but stopped, plus the product introduction times are stretching out to four years,” said JPR president Jon Peddie.

PC Gaming isn’t doomed to die, however. Higher-end players will always seek to push the boundaries of technology and keep GPU sales alive. But JPR still believes the platform’s audience and the market will slowly trickle towards alternatives over time.

“This is not a panic situation and the GPU market still generates incredible volume. However, there are forces at work that we predict will drive some of this business toward TV displays and associated gaming services.”

It all might seem a little doom and gloom, but we’re already seeing more staggered console releases that echo gradual PC upgrade patterns.

PC may be losing its technical advantage against streaming and home consoles, but its saving grace may yet lie in allowing for less limited user systems.