What’s Going On Out There?
Never did anyone think that we’d have to live through these dark ages. The tremendous catastrophe caused by the Pandemic hasn’t been merciful on anyone and this goes for the gaming industry as well.
That being said, there are still two parts to every story, and gaming has had to adapt in order to benefit from the pandemic. When the world has hunkered down, gaming has both exploded, as people discover ways to entertain themselves while they are unable to go outside, and on the other hand, has faced some predicaments.
The Bright Side
COVID-19 quarantines rapidly raised the number of hours spent in front of computers and encouraged millions to pursue new interactive experiences.
With college shutdowns, workplace cuts and cancelled holiday plans, more and more people are switching to video games as a way of closure and some are even transitioning from informal to dedicated gaming connections.
According to a poll, numerous people have registered for a computer game subscription-like steam, Epic games etc, or viewed e-sports and even an online sporting event for the first time amid the ongoing crisis.
The Scar-Faced Side Of The Coin
The gaming industry continues to Flourish in numbers and is growing rapidly, but it is vital to recognize that there are always two sides to a coin. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown companies and some sporting events into a slump.
Some Events have evolved to face this challenge, thanks to the current technology. The same cannot be said for other e-sport organizations and companies who help the gaming industry stay a frontier for new forms of entertainment.
Many sector trade shows and demonstrations have been scrapped owing to prohibitions on mass gatherings during the disease outbreak. Notably, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) eventually cancelled the biggest trade show, E3 2020, by March 2020, following several weeks of deliberation. Such notable events that were eventually cancelled include PAX WEST 2020, TwitchCon 2020, The Tokyo Game Show 2020, among several more.
But that’s not all, every electronic manufacturer, From the big names like NVIDIA, Sony, Nintendo, AMD, Intel to their knockoffs is slowing or cancelling productions of their next-gen and current tech due to the shortage of Silicon chips which is a key component in every electronic device. This shortage is due to many factors, The key one being the pandemic.
But E-sports is Played Online Right?
Now, I know what you might be thinking, “E-sports is literally called electronic sports! So they must be doing just dandy right?” Well, you’re wrong.
The majority of e-sports are played on online games, yes, but they are traditionally played in regional stadiums to minimize lag and other issues among players and to provide an audience who pay to watch these games. And Because of the pandemic, all of these activities were either cancelled or switched to an entirely electronic format for the duration of the year.
One of the biggest events of the year, ESL one RIO major 2020, a global CSGO event, was cancelled entirely. Other events like the Overwatch League and the League of Legends Rift Rivals Mid-season invitationals were also cancelled. Other events like Dreamhack, LoL European championship took to the online platform.
What Now?
The sudden unexpected break from everything has given indie developers and big companies alike time to enhance their software and in turn, provide users with a better experience for their favorite games.
Even now, E-Sport tournaments that are being held online have continued to grow exponentially, thanks to everyone sitting in front of their computer screens.
Given the likelihood that the outbreak will remain for some time, we should imagine the gaming industry to maintain its upward sales growth trajectory. In brief, we’re gazing at a post-pandemic gaming universe flooded with new tournaments, games, and developers.
