Call of Duty Was the Most Popular Lockdown Game Among Renters
The COVID-19 lockdown has been an unusual time for the gaming industry. While many upcoming games have seen their release dates delayed due to the closing of retail stores, player numbers for active online games have skyrocketed. Now, a new survey from apartment website RENTCafé has found that people spent around 60% more time gaming during lockdown than before, with Call of Duty topping the list for most-played game.
Renters Spent 60% More Time Gaming During Lockdown
The recent study on gaming habits during quarantine asked 4,750 adult renters about their time spent gaming, as well as their favorite games to play for this period. While data has indicated that people have spent more time gaming during quarantine, exact figures have been hard to come by thus far. This survey shows that, on average, respondents typically spent 5 hours and 20 minutes playing games per week prior to the COVID-19 lockdown. However, during lockdown, that figure rose to 8 hours and 30 minutes; a 60% increase.
Interestingly, the increase in time spent gaming was reflected across all generations of respondents. Broken down by age category, it also reflects that the time spent gaming isn’t vastly different across generations. People of ages 18-26 spent 5.4 hours gaming per week before quarantine and 8.7 during. At the other end of the spectrum, respondents of age 56+ spent 4.8 hours before and 6.8 hours during. The generation to experience the biggest increase was actually Gen-X (41-55 years old), whose time spent gaming per week rose from 4.5 to 7.9 hours (a 74% increase).
Call of Duty was the Most Popular Lockdown Game
When it comes to the most popular types of games played by respondents during lockdown, FPS games won, but only by a small margin. 17% of players chose FPS Games, over 16% who chose Casual Single Player, 14% for Simulation, and 13% for RPGs. Interestingly, the two top categories were largely divided by age. Respondents aged 18-30 were the most likely to pick FPS Games. Meanwhile, older respondents were more likely to pick Casual Single Player (46% for people aged 56 and over). Casual Single Player as a category includes many mobile games, which is the predominant gaming platform among older people.
However, when it came to the most popular lockdown game, the choice was much clearer. Call of Duty proved to be more than twice as popular as any other game named by respondents. Animal Crossing took the #2 spot, with Fortnite, NBA 2K20, and GTA V below that. Call of Duty was named as most popular by every individual age category up to age 40. Gen-X’ers (41-55) chose Candy Crush, while people aged 56 and over chose Solitaire. It’s not surprising to see Call of Duty dominate, of course, and the data also matches with the fact that GTA V saw a huge surge in players during lockdown. After all, Activision’s delivery method for seasonal content has proven extremely effective at retaining players since release. (Not to mention the enormous success of Call of Duty: Warzone.)