How gaming Industry are dealing with Coronavirus

As of today, there has been 1,521,252 confirmed cases of Coronavirus and more than 92,000 thousand
deaths and counting Worldwide since it was first reported in Wuhan, China last year. The ripple effect of
this pandemic has affected every industry in one way or another, but the economic impact has also been
tremendous. It has been felt in the tech industry at large and so was on the game industry.

Due to this lockdown, more people are spending all day at home-it allows people more free time, which
creates the need for recreation. Mobile games are a good way to kill a few minutes and take one’s mind
off work. And its not just for certain age groups. Now-a-days mobile games have attracted all kinds of
users such as hardcore gamers who usually plays multiplayer or battle royal games and others stick to
casual games which are very popular. But not all games got the surge of users as many online sports
fantasy games saw a huge decline in userbase as these games depends on the real live sports matches.

For mobile games, we’ve seen pages related to mobile management games surge by 857%, followed by
puzzle games at 590% and social games at 368%. Meanwhile idle mobile games have not seen any
increase in traffic during the period suggesting consumers want an interactive, challenging or social title
as they find themselves practicing social distancing. Many of the online multiplayer games like PUBG,
Fortnite, Call of Duty Mobile or CS Go have a social element, where players can team up with others
from anywhere in the world with the option to chat with each other while gaming.

Gaming has huge potential in terms of holding on to the attention and also keeping people entertained
at the same time. WHO (World Health Organization) have also working together with multiple gaming
companies such as Activison, Blizzard, Riot Games, Zynga, Kabam, Unity, Twitch and YouTube Gaming
for encouraging people to stay at home and play video games for a global campaign
#PlayApartTogether. The objective behind is to inform and encourage gamers to follow WHO’s health
guidelines by preparing online events, promotions and offering rewards within their games, platforms as
well as on social media networks.

Many game stores are giving premium access for free or giving big discounts to encourage people to
play video games when they are on a break. Ubisoft’s store and Epic Games store are offering many
games for free till the end of April and Steam is offering popular game titles at huge discounta. Another
Online game store Humble Bundle is offering a bundle of videos games and ebooks worth $1,071 for
$30. The entire proceeds from the sale of bundle will be donated to support organisations responding to
covid-19 cases.

In addition to use of games and gaming platforms to engage with people and spread awareness,
researchers are also experimenting with games that can contribute to the study of coronavirus. A case in
point is Foldit, an online puzzle game by University of Washington, where players have to fold protein
structures to create new ones. This will create proteins by design and help to advances in treating
disease, and solutions for other real-world problems.

Many big events for games was cancelled or postponed fearing for the attendees’ of the event and to
stop the spread of Covid-19.
E3 is the annual occurrence for the video game industry since the ’90s, and Many developing and
publishing companies showcase their new games and products. It is a go-to exhibition for all gamers and
gaming developers and publisher. But this year’s E3 2020 has been cancelled by the Entertainment
Software Assosiation. The big questions remains surround the planned releases of Playstation 5
and Xbox Series X, the two next-generation consoles announced for release sometime in the holiday
2020 season. Market research firm DFC Intelligence, as reported by Forbes, predicted a likely future in
which coronavirus has "a major short-term impact on the delivery of both systems and they may not
make a 2020 launch. Which will definitely upset many gamers.

Game Developer Conference was also postponed to stop the spreading of Covid-19. The decision came
after several high-profile game studios dropped out of the event including Microsoft, Sony, and EA. GDC
plans to upload planned talks to its YouTube channel and stream certain scheduled events via Twitch.
The conference will hopefully be rescheduled to summer and all attendees will receive a refund.

Competetive Online gaming events and leagues cancelled

Activision Blizzard Esports decide to cancel all Overwatch and Call of Duty League events in both March
and April to reduce infection risk for players and attendees. In its announcement, the organization said it
will be looking to have matches played when it is “safe and logistically possible,” and that it will try to
stick to its original schedule as much as it can.

Electronic Arts has suspended all competitive live events for its games, including EA Sports titles and
Apex Legends in order to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. This not only includes events EA runs itself,
but also official events licensed to third-party organizers. t

NetherRealm Studios, behind Mortal Kombat 11, canceled upcoming live-steamed events, including the
live audience for the eSports competition Final Kombat 2020.

For the time being, game industry is working fine as developers still maintaining the platforms and
networks as major game studios has declared work-from-home. But the game industry was hit the
hardest when it comes to the biggest conventions and conferences. These are the events where new
concepts, games and technologies are shared with the worlds.