The lockdown that has been
brought about by the rapidly-spreading COVID-19 is admittedly quite boring.
While it is imperative to stem the spread of the virus, one is forced to sit at
home with nothing to do and a dwindling supply of good shows to watch. However,
one group of people is safe from this dilemma: gamers. Gaming has always been
quite a lucrative and popular market, both on the PC and consoles (such as the
Xbox and Playstation). Even mobile gaming is steadily getting more recognition,
as shown by critically-acclaimed games such as “Call Of Duty: Mobile” and “Player
Unknown’s Battleground: Mobile”. Now, when numerous countries are enforcing
strict stay-at-home orders and encouraging social distancing, thousands of
people around the world are turning to gaming as a viable pastime. Not only
does it act as a savior from absolute boredom and provide a sense of normalcy
and indoor entertainment, but online gaming has the power to connect people in
a virtual environment. This sentiment is expressed perfectly by Bobby Kotick,
the CEO of Activision-Blizzard, when he says: “Games are
the perfect platform because they connect people through the lens of joy,
purpose, and meaning”. Even if you can’t go out and physically meet your
friends, you can still game with the boys whenever you’d like, team up with
them to complete missions or clutch matches, and speak with them live! Gaming
can also help people detach from the troubles and stress of what’s going on in
the world right now.
It’s quite evident that this point-of-view is shared by millions of people worldwide. It has been a record-breaking few weeks for video games in almost every country around the world. What’s even more interesting to note is that the numbers coming from the most hard-hit countries are unbelievably mind-boggling! One of China’s most popular games, Honor of Kings, reported a recent increase in daily active users from 65 million to 100 million. According to Verizon, in the U.S. alone, there has been a 75% increase in video game usage during peak hours and a 12% uptick in video streaming. In Italy, the homebound flocked to Fortnite in droves, accounting for much of the country’s 70% increase in Internet traffic. Call of Duty: Warzone, launched in the second week of March, garnered 15 million players within four days. That same week, Counter-strike: Global Offensive saw over one million concurrent players, a record for the eight-year-old game. The following week, video game distribution service Steam reached a new record of 20.3 million concurrent users online, with 6.2 million in-game at the time of the announcement!
Additionally, it’s not just gameplay on mediums such as consoles, PCs, and mobile platforms that are on the rise. Gamers love to watch other players play. Even those who don’t have access to video games can still stream other gamers playing. From the second to the third week of March, Twitch viewership went up by 10%. YouTube Gaming experienced a 15% increase in views. In fact, data from the online game analytics service Esports Charts shows the number of viewers has roughly doubled over the same time a year ago. Bloomberg reported that Vodafone in the UK and Telia in Sweden are preparing for surging bandwidth demands. With schools now closing across the US, local carriers and services are likely not far behind. Discord video and chat app popular among gamers, said it is expanding the number of people who can use its group video chat service up to 50 at a time as it expects demand to surge as more people stay home. Comcast said it’s increasing bandwidth for people who pay for slower connections, and it’s going to offer free service for the next 60 days to low-income families who sign up as new customers.
Even pro-athletes around the globe are finding ways to
continue playing the games that they know and love. With almost every athletic
event in the foreseeable future either cancelled or postponed, pro-athletes are
switching to online gaming with sports-based games such as NBA 2K, FIFA, NFL,
and UFC. Over 12,000 people watched on Twitter and Twitch as the Phoenix Suns’
Mikal Bridges took on the Philadelphia 76ers’ Matisse Thybulle on NBA 2K.
As you can clearly see now, gaming is a gift sent from the
gods to us during the COVID-19 outbreak, with the potential to bring people
together and act as a viable past-time. In my opinion, gaming is only set to
increase in popularity in the future, regardless of whether we are quarantined
at home or not!
