The coronavirus pandemic took the world by surprise in early 2020, and to avert an even greater crisis a lot of countries went into lockdown. This had a severe impact on a lot of businesses and on the economy in general. Every crisis has a ripple effect, so it’s wrong to assume that just a portion of society will feel the aftermath. That being said, there are certain industries that actually saw growth in these circumstances. Video Game Industry: Winners in The Pandemic
The gaming industry had already been growing even the pandemic started. However, people were suddenly in lockdown. And in search of some sort of entertainment during this hard time, they turned to video games.
Here we will examine how and why the gaming industry managed to boom during one of the biggest crises in the last decade.
e-Sports
During the pandemic, all of the major events like sports leagues, competitions, and even the Olympics were canceled. On the other hand, esports tournaments could be held while maintaining a distance. So, there wasn’t really any reason not to hold them as long as organizers could comply with prescribed regulations.
Still, this doesn’t account for the rise in interest in esports, as people who don’t find them entertaining won’t see them as different all of a sudden. However, you don’t have to be a fan of video games to take interest in esports. You can be a fan of sports betting though. Since other sports events were canceled, the only things punters could wager on were esports and virtual sports.
Online Gambling
Another part of the gaming industry is iGaming or casino games. Unlike flashy and complex video games, this type of entertainment is much easier to pick up. Even though land-based casinos were closed, online gambling saw a rapid rise in its user base. Many new online gambling venues started operating and people started enjoying https://casinosters.com/3-pounds-minimum-deposit-casinos/ and other such online casinos that offered attractive welcome promotions to new users. What is more, during the pandemic, the first-ever online poker Hold’em tournament was held. It only goes to show that people need games in order to mitigate the stress caused by the pandemic.
Major Events
Some of the biggest events within the gaming community are the introduction of new gaming consoles. As luck would have it both Xbox and PlayStation were supposed to be released during 2020. Neither company could predict that pandemic would escalate so much and decided to move forward with the release.
As mentioned the new situation affected everyone in one way or another, and import and export of goods got more difficult. Moreover, the uncertainty also caused the companies to reduce their production capacity. Ironically, the advertising campaign for PS5 worked so well, and the market was hyped for the release. Yet immediately after the consoles became available they started vanishing, as re-sellers were using bots to immediately make a purchase before regular folks could even refresh the page.
This meant that a lot of people either bought a console at double the price or simply decided to wait for another batch. This shortage of products and high demand incentivized companies to schedule a more aggressive production and distribution.
Good Marketing Strategy
Game developers, gaming studios and distributors, really decided to make the best out of the bad situation, and reward customer loyalty. Almost all of the big companies within the gaming industry decided to support their users in the quarantine and gave out free games. This was so well received which further solidified customer loyalty. And if you feel positive about the seller, you are likely to buy more from them.
Conclusion
Throughout history, the world went through several economic crises, and it was always a difficult time for everyone. However, during each of these difficult situations, there were companies that thrived. This time around, the luck was tilted into the gaming industry’s favor. That being said the companies are aware and pretty transparent when they say that they do not count to see these same numbers once the pandemic is over. So, it will be interesting to see if the numbers will go back to the old ones pre-COVID-19 or if it will turn out that the pandemic actually gave birth to a lot of new gaming fans.