Although the COVID-19 crisis has already caused several major games to be delayed, including The Last of Us 2, the pandemic has actually resulted in a significant increase in game spending. After record spending in March, April 2020 has set another new record, with more than $10.5 billion spent on games; a 17% increase over April of 2019.
How COVID-19 is Impacting the Gaming Industry
While it hasn’t been good for video game development, as the pandemic forces staff to work from home and disrupts shipping, etc., COVID-19 has caused profits to rise on a wide range of gaming services and existing games, particularly live-service games. Xbox Game Pass passed 10 million subscribers, for example. Meanwhile, GTA V reclaimed its throne as April’s top-selling PS4 game, seven years after release!
New data collected by SuperData indicates that April 2020 was a record-breaking month for game-spending. Around $10.5 billion was spent on games in April alone, an increase from March, and 17% higher than April 2019’s figure. Year-over-year earnings rose 14% on mobile and 12% on PC, but both are dwarfed by a massive rise of 42% on console. What this shows is that as a result of the lockdown restrictions which are currently in place across most of the world, far more people than normal have been playing games on all platforms.
On PC, League of Legends’ revenue was the highest that it’s been since February 2017. Meanwhile, on console, it was Animal Crossing: New Horizons that dominated. The new Switch title sold more than 3.6 million units; more than any other title across all three consoles. The Final Fantasy VII Remake managed to rank at #2, selling 2.2 million units; a record for both the Final Fantasy franchise and for PlayStation exclusives.
This surge in gaming engagement is likely to continue, at least in the short-term, as long as most countries remain in lockdown. As such, many people will remain at home and more likely to spend their time gaming. Of course, the surge will subside as the impact of COVID-19 begins to wane. However, it will almost certainly mean that 2020 proves a record-breakingly profitable year for the gaming industry.