Pandemic Impact On Gaming Industry Growth

The online gaming industry has seen a surge after covid-19’s restrictions were put into place. In fact, people were finding gaming as a major stress reliever even before the pandemic started. What added to the sudden growth was the availability of free time due to work from home and safe socialization after covid. This working environment gave every one of us an ample amount of time for our leisure activities.?

According to a survey done in 2020, a majority of new users subscribed to gaming services. One??person out of each three subscribers was playing any computer game for the first time in his life. They either got into the picture through any e-sports tournament being conducted as a virtual sporting event or joined cloud gaming services.?

Not only the gamers, but the developers also took complete advantage by cashing the moment. They started putting more effort to make the games easy to play, added more fun, and made them to better engage the players. All these efforts resultantly maximized the accessibility of online games which even turned the casual users into highly dedicated players. More in the line, the publishers invested in better ad positioning, video streaming platforms added new games to their lists, and gaming studios started conducting more virtual events making a winning environment for everybody linked.?

With all this growth in the gaming industry due to covid circumstances, general health lags were also observed. The next section of this article explains the same.?

Gaming Growth Vs Health Aspects

A sneak peeks into the numbers -of how many people started searching about the games- can talk about the promising growth of online gaming during covid. The numbers are still increasing even after the covid restrictions are no more as those were for a whole year. A numeric survey conducted based on the data from Google/Ipsos tells that the search volume for the terms “game apps” and “best online games” increased 100% within a year.?

Not only the games, but 35% to 45% of people also downloaded applications related to well-being and fitness maintenance during covid isolations.?

Although people adopted gaming to cope up with their work or other stress levels, it increased the number of health and one’s well-being-related concerns. Most of the people became vulnerable to unhealthy patterns of daily lifestyle. Some found it extremely tough to get back to normal after the covid crises started ending.?

This generated a need of balancing gaming activities effectively during Covid—19 to help improve psychological and physical well-being.?

Social Gaming

When I first shifted from offline gaming to online gaming, I got a chance of playing with other people. There were so many platforms available that were helpful to play multiplayer mode. These platforms give a chance for people from all around the world to socialize virtually from the comfort of their homes keeping their social circle active even everybody is in isolation due to covid’s conditions.?

I can easily recall connecting with so many new users whom I met while playing in an online e-sports community and yet they turned into genuine long terms friends. People joining these communities can interact with each other just like they do on any social media platform. Even after so many years, I am still in contact with most of the people and we often play our favorite games.?

During covid, many people have experienced the same and have increased their circle of friends. Some of the mobile games that popped into the online world a little before covid include PUBG, Mine Craft, and Battle Royal. These and many similar games kept people engaged due to their compatibility with all the systems and could be played on Xbox, PC, and Smart Phones (Both Android and IOS Operating Systems) as well.??These online gaming communities have turned out to be a source of new and healthy friendships. They conduct multiple competitive events with opportunities to win exciting prizes.?

All in all, this environment has massively helped the people to stay sane and productive during covid. This era seems to be extending even as now covid threats are reducing and life is becoming normal as it was before.?

Gender Preferences in Online Gaming

For a very long period in the past, computer gaming was a completely male dominant activity. A few years ago, when I participated in a couple of gaming competitions, there were negligible female contestants.?

But this situation has no longer been the same since then. The majority of women from all around the world started taking interest in playing computer games before covid which now has increased even more.?

Although not dominant nearly half of the gamers you’ll meet today are females. This indeed started happening when online gaming gained advancement on android and other mobile phone operating systems.?

Initially, girl gamers started taking interest in these newly developed game applications on a cell phone while the interest then turned into an addiction. More and more females started playing high-end games on specially build gaming systems and Xbox etc.?

As covid wasn’t any area-specific condition, the trend of online gaming gained serious traction in the middle east for women. They got introduced to e-sports and started grooming in the genre more than ever in 2020. It was exactly when the first all-female e-sport team was built to take part in a competition happening in the industry.?

Trends in Indonesia

If we look at the gaming stats in Indonesia in preceding years of covid 19, the country-wide spending was around $1.1 billion in just one year.?

Now keeping such a huge amount in mind for that year, this number is increasing and even-paced up during covid making Indonesia the most dominant games market in South Asia.?

Just like the uprising of female gamers in the middle east, the comparative percentage of male and female gamers in Indonesia is on the hike. If we talk about the mobile versions, there are 74% men and 70% women who play. While in console gaming, this ratio is 62% male and 50% female which is extremely promising.?

This simply shows how the dominance of the gaming industry can probably be captured by females.?

Breaking down the expanses these gamers make while playing, 94% of people made item purchasing inside the games within just six months.?

Another interesting aspect is to look at content consumption in the gaming industry. Around 71% of people in Indonesia watch videos of game plays and similar content while 38% of people found inclined towards watching e-sports during their leisure time. As per studies, people who play games on mobile are generally interested in the strategy genre while on console or PC, they are more into first-person shooting and battle games.?

Conclusion

Talking about my personal experience, covid was the most unusual and unexpected phase shift of my life. It gave me a sense about how my isolation during the pandemic turned into a blessing.?

The same has been the case for most of the people who were not aware of the flexibility and other associated benefits. People were able to adopt new hobbies which were mostly indoor. I also got my hands on cooking different dishes.?

All these changes made a huge impact on how people started using games as digital tools for stress relief. They became relaxed from work-related stresses and increased their online socialization. Now, this doesn’t seem to be stopping instead growth of such digitalization is consistent and will be racking up in coming years.