The lockdown early in the year provided a bit of a unique opportunity for many game developers as the increasing audience of players stuck at home saw numbers surge in many online titles, despite many measures being relaxed and people returning to work it didn’t seem as if the numbers would start falling off as the suggestions that they would remain higher than before stay true – but with the possibility of a second outbreak occurring, many developers will be looking forward to a period of time where they may perhaps see increased user numbers once again Gaming.
The UK has been one of the first countries to enact a bit of a soft lockdown once more – whilst cities across Europe have had local lockdowns for problem areas, a widespread restriction of movement where possible could see many working from home again which has been one of the bigger environments where numbers have crept up – the next few weeks could be telling if a stronger lockdown measure is needed where many workers may need to take temporary breaks from work and schools may see closures again, and if this does happen the expectation is that there will be a small jolt to gaming for entertainment.
Other markets didn’t really see a drop – popular competitive esports titles were amongst the only sporting events that didn’t need to issue many cancellations or postponements as the majority of events were moved to an online environment instead providing fans with plenty of entertainment through live streams and broadcasts, and with bubbles in place there will shortly be a number of offline events taking place too as League of Legends sees its World Championship event take place throughout October – this will also see the strength returning to other markets as despite a number of regulations put in place to prevent growth, a growing number of betting sites not on gamstop have become available and will continue to follow the growing number of esports gaming events taking place even if more traditional sports see cancellation again.
Many of the estimates for the value of gaming may see big changes in the coming months too – in May it was suggested that mobile gaming will generate revenues of around $77.2 billion throughout the 2020 year, as mobile gaming continues to be the biggest and quickest growing market in the world the figure has continued to improve, but if a second lockdown is put into place then that number may be a much smaller representation of what’s possible – and with a growing number of emerging markets starting to move into the gaming industry particularly as other forms of entertainment become less available the number may certainly grow.
It’s an exciting time for gamers – the holiday season marks the release of the next generation consoles and hardware for PC, new flagship devices for smartphones are being announced and the introduction of 5G networking continues to edge ever closer, where other markets have struggled through the period it certainly has been a boon for gaming and it shows its resilience despite ongoing issues.