The PC Gaming Alliance was dealt a serious blow in April, when Activision Blizzard--purveyor of Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, and more of the top PC games in recent history--departed the organization. Still, the pro-desktop gaming organization counts a number of high-profile members among its roster, including AMD, Dell, Intel, Nvidia, Sony, and Microsoft.

　　Today, the PCGA announced that eight companies have joined its ranks: BFG Technologies, Bigfoot Networks, Flextronics, GameStop, GameTap, Gas Powered Games, Howie’s Game Shack, and InstantAction.

　　The new members run the gamut of game-industry specializations: Gas Powered Games is best known for its real-time strategy titles such as Supreme Commander; InstantAction specializes in online, Web browser-based gaming; and GameStop is the world's largest specialty retail of gaming software.

　　In May, the PCGA published its 2008 Horizon's Report, which found that PC gaming software saw global revenues rise 18 percent to $12.7 billion in 2008. Overall, the study found that the PC software and hardware market stood at $68 billion in 2008, with the PCGA saying that number is expected to balloon to $143 billion by 2013.