With the onset of global pandemic Corona Virus, everything in this world has come to a halt. Employees have been furloughed and sent home. Others including students have resorted to online classes. People are finding new methods to stay productive during these challenging times, one of which includes online gaming.
Let’s dive in!
How Has Online Gaming Traffic Peaked During These Times?
Now that everyone is home and idle, people are finding different techniques to get themselves busy in something. Since online gaming is an entertainment task undertaken by a huge amount of people, now we can see its ever-increasing usage around us. It is estimated that the online gaming industry will have generated a hefty revenue of $2.5 billion by the year to come. During the first two weeks of lockdown, online gaming percentage increased by 100%. In China, which was under lockdown by February, the online gaming stats are at an insane high. The amount of people playing online games shot up to 75%. In the US, the percentage increased to 20% from last year.
Why Exactly Has the Online Gaming Percentage Shot Up?
Online gaming had always been a very pleasurable source of killing time even before lockdown. People used to thoroughly enjoy playing games online. But, since the lockdown has surrounded the entire world like anything, we can notice a sudden increases in the stats. People don’t find anything else to relax them in quarantine. Spending 24 hours every single day without having to go out is not an ideal deal. In order to do something and get busy, people started to play online games. These games have proved to be lucrative sources for game developers and their business in the U.S is predicted to increase from $15,793 million to $22 million. This plague and the consequent lockdown has proved to make lots of profit for the gaming industry, if not for any other one.
Types of Online Gaming:
Online gaming, like every other business has been tweaking with their features a lot more recently. Now, there are a million different types of games available online which promise a hundred different eye-catching totally grasping features. This keeps the users engrossed in online gaming, ultimately increasing their screen time like anything.
· Role Playing Games (RPG):
Role playing game is the new thing in digital town of lockdown-ridden individuals. Everyone is looking forward to RPG nowadays. In role playing games, a person decides what character he has to play in the game; which could be the protagonist, antagonist etc. After that, the goal is to increase that character’s points in a particular fictional setting.
· Online Casinos:
Online casinos are these digital casinos where, just like any real and tangible casino, you play a game. If you win, you get money and if you lose, you’ll have to pay. There are many online platforms built for you to play casino. Some don’t even require you to sign up and then start to play a game. One incredibly famous Finnish online casino enables you to cash out the points you earn after winning a game online.
Increasing Streaming Demand:
People nowadays are really invested in streaming video game services. This is one of the reasons why people have started playing online video games more than ever. Most countries have adopted 5G and cloud streaming internet services. With the latest streaming service, people can download video games easily on their PCs and laptops. With 5G technology, people can download video games quite easily in large amounts. There is no lag or speed problem with 5G Internet speed. People can also use the latest version of the game without having to download the updates. In addition, the progress on the game is saved so that you will be able to play the game anywhere anytime.
Adoption of Virtual Reality:
Virtual reality is the new thing which is capturing everyone’s attention. Computer was known to be a device which could only take input through keyboard typing or a mouse click. But now, with the incorporation of audio and vision, the users can engage in interactive fictional settings. There are many virtual reality apps functioning all across the web which engage the users up to a great extent. Virtual reality and augmented reality present an opportunity for people to engross and delve into a computer and reality integrated forum. With the ongoing pandemic and lockdown, virtual and augmented reality games and apps have sold like hot cakes.
Points of attraction:
One of the prominent things about online gaming is their new features. To keep users engaged and connected to the game, there are virtual lotteries and gifts that you get once you achieve a certain goal. Users often tend to play a game for longer periods and invest a lot of effort so that they win that particular lottery. Gifts might include unlocking characters or certain outfits. Others might include advancing to the next level in an online game.
What Are the Impacts?
The impacts of this pandemic on online gaming have been substantial.
- Games like Ludo Star, 8-ball pool, PUBG Mobile, Temple Run have seen an immense increment in the audience given the ongoing lockdown.
- Online games did have an audience even before lockdown, but the audience after the global pandemic COVID-19 has significantly increased.
- This is causing a huge increase in the revenue generated by these games.
- It has been recorded that people tend to buy few games and spend more time on those, instead of buying many different games.
- This is how the entire revenue goes to one particular online gaming company singularly.
- If direct interaction with friends and family is not allowed, then certain games can be used to serve the purpose. For instance, Animal Horizons is an online game which enables you to conduct close-to-reality events online.
In conclusion, it’s safe to say that online gaming has skyrocketed during lockdown and the changes in online gaming industry are unprecedented.