The Corona pandemic and the contact restrictions associated with the virus have had a significant impact on the gaming market, as a recent survey shows. The big winners on PC are shooter games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, CS:GO, and Rainbow Six Siege.
What kind of data is this? The analysis firm Newzoo monitors the gaming market with analyses. They conduct surveys and evaluate them.
The latest release now shows which genres have been the big winners in PC gaming over the past 6 months. March 2020 stood under the sign of the corona quarantine in many parts of the world. Thus, among PC players, shooters have seen a significant increase.
For the survey, 1,204 gamers in the USA, Italy, and Japan aged between 10 and 30 were questioned.
In Italy, it had already become known in March that Italian players during the quarantine flocked to shooters like Call of Duty: Warzone and Fortnite.
Shooters have increased by 40% from October 2019 to March 2020. Meanwhile, shooters have a player share of 46%.
More gamers play shooters and they play significantly longer
Not only are more people playing shooters, but they are also playing significantly longer: the playing time has increased from 38 minutes in December 2019 to 60 minutes in March 2020.
Other strong winners in the last 6 months:
- Gambling (36% gain)
- Deck-building games (34%) – here Newzoo sees the reason in “Legends of Rune Terra”
- Arcade games (28%)
- Platformers (25% – here Ori is considered responsible)
- Battle Royale (17%)
The two genres that could not grow in recent months were MOBAs (which are still incredibly popular) and fighting games.
Which shooters benefit particularly? According to the survey, there is one major winner. That is Rainbow Six Siege from Ubisoft. It had the most players in the survey.
But CS:GO and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare also placed well.
Players simply have more time to play
Why do we play more during quarantine? There was also a survey about this, but it comes out relatively banal:
People simply have more time to play. 45% cited this as a reason for playing more during the lockdown.
The other answers are relatively equal at 15-17%:
- Players want contact with others
- Players want to escape the current situation
- Their living situation changed during Corona
- Friends and family also started playing now
Call of Duty: Warzone as a major winner of the Corona crisis
Which game could benefit the most from the Corona crisis? Newzoo believes that one of the major winners of the corona quarantine could be Call of Duty: Warzone.
The game seems tailor-made for the current situation.
Because the game is free, the entry barrier is low – even for people new to gaming. It requires communication, it is team-based, and there is fast action on a large map.
Who is the big loser of the Corona crisis in gaming? Newzoo has already revised the revenue expectations for the e-sports market in 2020 down by 40 million. From $1.1 billion to $1.059 billion. Many events had to be canceled or postponed.
In the long term, Newzoo believes in the development of e-sports.
What’s behind this: Social interaction, long-term motivation, distraction, and a touch of escapism seem to be the combination that many gamers are now longing for. Now may not be the time for epic single-player RPGs or simulations. There may be too much time to think about the current situation.
The results of the current survey from the USA, Italy, and Japan coincide with reports from the beginning of the pandemic in China. There, players had already reported that they are gaming more when locked indoors.
Chinese players also indicated that they sought distraction in fast action games that are played online and in multiplayer – like LoL or PUBG. Apparently, players enjoy talking to others in team games under the current conditions, but not about the corona virus, but rather about where the damned enemies are lurking in the game.
