How the coronavirus is boosting video gaming in China

[SMT]

The devastating plague hit China and forced millions to stay indoors and keep the human interaction to the minimum and people are spending most of the time staying indoor and playing their favourite game. At this time of the year, Chinese people are celebrating their New year and enjoying to the fullest but unfortunately, the coronavirus outbreak is making people stay indoors.

The coronavirus was first detected in the city of Wuhan and then spread across the country. It has infected thousands of people across China and the death toll is somewhere near 1,300. The plague has left many in despair as they can’t even leave their homes.

On the contrary, people in China are spending their time while playing video games and there are millions of active players that are really boosting the gaming industry in China. However, many gaming tournaments were cancelled and many factories were also closed amid the lockdown.

According to a CNN report, Apple’s app store is getting more downloads than ever and their revenue is up by 12% in the past few months. There’s a significant increase on the steaming platforms as well where games like PUBG, League of Legends & Fortnite are quite popular and receiving chunks of views.

There are also some reports suggesting that many premium games are now free and publishers are introducing in-game purchases to make their game more popular in front of this huge audience.

There’s some bad news for gamers from all over the world as well because due to the coronavirus outbreak, many factories that were responsible for the production of next-gen consoles are also closed and many believe that there might be a delay in the release of Sony’s Playstation 5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X. Furthermore, Bloomberg recently reported that Nintendo is likely to struggle to supply the Nintendo consoles to the European and US markets because the coronavirus is affecting the output of some main components that are used in the console.

The Nintendo spokesman recently apologized for the shortage of console and stated that the virus is forcing them to shut down the factories and hence the shortage. In the meantime, the coronavirus continues to affect gaming in many ways all over the world but one good thing is that many people in China are turning towards gaming to keep them distracted from the fear of life-threatening plague which is haunting the whole country.

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[Paladin]

Considering that staying inside is probably the safest bet when it comes to defeating the coronavirus... it's not really a surprise that the gaming industry has boosted. If they can't go outside, what else can they do? Game.

It's a shame that a lot have been infected (in other countries as well). Let's hope that the outbreak can be contained by (hopefully) the end of June-ish.

 

[Nova]

A lot of people inside homes and also they have access to money, with jobs being paid for a month. I guess they are going to buy the games and play or stream on the net. So yeah it is kind of expected.

 

[Demon_skeith]

I guess that is one good thing I suppose, though kind of depressing they can't celebrate the new years.

 

[SaucyPastaTho]

I didn't know that though there were reports of it stalling the release of next gen consolee.

 

[Nova]

I didn't know that though there were reports of it stalling the release of next gen consolee.

Well they are the hub of electronics and the manufacturing mostly happens in chinese grounds. So yeah they are not only stalling the consoles but many electronics. Think of 2020 as the year when the progress of electronics industry was stalled due to health hazard reasons.

 

[GameWise]

Let me guess, I know what game they are playing. It must be, Left 4 Dead. The Infected (sometimes referred to simply as Zombies by the survivors) are Left 4 Dead's take on the classic movie and pop-fiction zombie. Rather than being undead, they are living humans who have been Infected by the Green Flu virus, causing massively increased aggression and loss of many higher brain functions such as speech and self-preservation. Like cinematic zombies, those present in the Left 4 Dead series attack human victims until they themselves perish or kill their target.

 

[SaucyPastaTho]

Well they are the hub of electronics and the manufacturing mostly happens in chinese grounds. So yeah they are not only stalling the consoles but many electronics. Think of 2020 as the year when the progress of electronics industry was stalled due to health hazard reasons.

It's crazy how a virus is being used as a chemical weapon that's low standards especially if china planted it in the US it was already weaponized for chemical warfare back in the 90s when bill clinton was in office.

 

[Nova]

The thing is that the nearby nations have been making it harder for china to sustain their running horse. So if they reduce the demand of neighbors they could win. But corona definitely backfired on them. I am sure now people around the world would think twice before relying on china for supplies.