The COVID 19 Pandemic has shaken the whole world for more than a year now, affecting anything and everything under its cloud. The pandemic has disrupted everything, from small home based businesses to Multinational Corporations. The COVID-19 has led to an unprecedented state of uncertainty and confusion, with immeasurable social, health, and economic consequences. At the beginning of the outbreak, the financial markets shrunk and collapsed, although not all sectors suffered equally. While every other industry has declined, there is one that has been very resilient so far and has experienced an unprecedented boom, the Gaming Industry.
The gaming and esports industry has experienced a huge expansion during the last years, but the outburst of the pandemic made it even larger. Due to the international lockdown, more and more people started to tune in to watch their favorite gamers compete, others put in the time and dedication to become professional players. If you want to get more information on how the pandemic impacted the esports industry, consider looking at recent esports stats, or visit some of the professional esports websites and draw your own conclusions.
The gaming and eSports sector is one that has minimally suffered from the fall in the markets. Millions of people locked up at their homes, bored, stressed, and anguished, gave gaming and eSports companies growing prominence throughout the first half of 2020. However, many events including Comic Con international and E3 were cancelled while others were moved to a virtual venue. So, let’s talk about both the positive and the negative impacts pandemic had on gaming industry.
Positive Impacts
The pandemic has restricted millions of people to their homes and that is basically the biggest boon for the gaming industry as staying in one place could prove to be a really hard job, and to turn that hard job a little easier, people turn to distractions and you can’t name a better way to spend your time than gaming. Other than distractions, a lot of people make a living out of gaming by selling PUBG and Fortnite accounts for instance and for them; this lockdown was all they needed.
Looking at the whole situation from a sociological point of view, staying home is considered lazy and weak and people who stay home are targeted most of the time. That difference was wiped out with all the lockdowns implemented all around the globe.
The COVID-19 has increased user engagement with video games and eSports. Revenues for many gaming companies have risen during the pandemic. The pandemic is boosting existing trends within the gaming industry.
The global video game industry is flourishing and thriving, despite the fact that with the practice of social distancing reducing consumer and business activity to a minimum, gaming offers an engaging distraction for people at home looking for social interaction, and initial data shows massive growth in playtime and sales since the lockdowns began.
Negative Impacts
There have been negative impacts on the industry as well, particularly with main trade events like the E3 2020 cancelled or postponed which certainly has impacted relationships between the smaller developers and publishers.
This has specifically declined indie developers who naturally use these events for face to face meetings with possible partners to gain publishing support and funding, and caused them to have to delay or cancel projects. Further, many eSports leagues had to alter plans for their games, transitioning from live events to remote play or cancellation altogether. Parts of the industry that relied on physical products, such as retail as well as those dependent on in-person activities such as quality assurance through ratings, play testing and marketing, also struggled with global stay at home orders.
Final Thoughts
While the situation has improved for many countries, we are still feeling the aftershocks of the pandemic and while you are at home trying to socialize through games, here is a website that you need to check for some crazy deals on all your favorite games be it cheap OSRS gold or exotic items in CSGO. And finally, all the best wishes for anyone who’s been struggling due to this pandemic, better days are coming soon!
