A Disastrous End to 2022 for GPU Shipments

It has been a bumpy ride for PC gamers this past year as prices for graphics cards skyrocketed due to overwhelming demand. This tumultuous year has now come to a close, and the numbers are showing some shocking results. According to longtime graphics market analysts JPR, graphics card shipments dropped from 26 million in the 4th quarter of 2021 to 13 million for the same period in 2022, a 50% year-on-year reduction. 

While the 4th quarter of last year didn't have the benefit of the new releases from Nvidia and AMD people had been anticipating, it's still a significant drop. Nvidia released the much-hyped RTX 40 series in mid-October, with the RTX 4070 Ti coming out in early 2022 and AMD's RX 7900 series appearing in mid-December. 

It's clear that the pandemic has had an influence on the GPU market and the sudden surge of demand it created. Not only were the latest GPUs from Nvidia and AMD in short supply, the more affordable models of previous generations were also hard to find. This, combined with the growth of cryptocurrency mining on GPUs, has been the perfect storm to drive up prices. 

The good news is that there was at least a 7.8% increase in discrete graphics card sales from Q3 to Q4 of 2022. While this is encouraging, overall sales of GPUs still fell 38%, including integrated and embedded graphics.

Given the current market situation, it's a strong possibility that both Nvidia and AMD have the motivation to adjust their prices to a more reasonable level. Already, the AMD RX 7900 XT is selling for well below its MSRP, and now that the worst of the pandemic seems to be over, demand and prices should start to cool off. 

In conclusion, 2022 has been an incredibly difficult year for GPU shipments and prices. While it has been disruptive for gamers, it also has the potential to lead to changes that could make buying GPUs easier in the future. With lower prices, more availability, and the possibility of better technology, PC gaming is on track to have a bright future.