How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the gaming industry and its major stakeholders?

[killamch89]

I don't think we've ever had a dedicated discussion about this topic. What impact did Covid have on the gaming industry particularly the bigger companies?

[Shortie]

I would say in terms of COVID and gaming companies, it would have definitely been a sales that would have taken the biggest hit. With people losing their jobs due to the pandemic they would have definitely been trying to hold off on any kind of spending that was not necessary at the time. I also think with the whole work from home mandate that was going on for a while at the beginning of the pandemic and when COVID was at it' worst, a lot of games ended up being delayed due to that meaning game companies were slow on releasing new games compared to before COVID. 

[Kale]

I think it for sure delayed some games and the whole working from home thing prolly was rough at first. I feel overtime people and companies got used to it overtime. I feel that during COVID I seen more people actually sit down and play games they meant to play over buying newer games. A lot of people I know even were like the above, and didn't buy games at all. 

[killamch89]

18 hours ago, Shortie said:

I would say in terms of COVID and gaming companies, it would have definitely been a sales that would have taken the biggest hit. With people losing their jobs due to the pandemic they would have definitely been trying to hold off on any kind of spending that was not necessary at the time. I also think with the whole work from home mandate that was going on for a while at the beginning of the pandemic and when COVID was at it' worst, a lot of games ended up being delayed due to that meaning game companies were slow on releasing new games compared to before COVID. 

There are some valid points here and I also think that a lot of gaming conferences with traditionally physical interaction like E3 have been heavily impacted to the point that most of the major gaming companies no longer use E3 to showcase their new offerings and instead host their own events.

13 hours ago, Kale said:

I think it for sure delayed some games and the whole working from home thing prolly was rough at first. I feel overtime people and companies got used to it overtime. I feel that during COVID I seen more people actually sit down and play games they meant to play over buying newer games. A lot of people I know even were like the above, and didn't buy games at all. 

I mean, to be fair - most of us where cooped up in our residences for the better part of a year so gaming was one of the only ways to entertain ourselves.

[Reality vs Adventure]

A good example is a big company like Ubisoft who has had financial problems and the pandemic pretty much opened the wound up and got infected. I've read the reason could be because Ubisoft makes such large games plus online multiplayer features that has had issues. Limiting interaction among employees when trying to make such large games kind of spurred on their decision to abandon some of the games they had planned. The new Assassin's Creed game, Mirage has a smaller map concentrating more on a particular city like some of the older games in the series. Maybe cutting back on large scale games can help them get things in order to work on bigger projects in the future. Because I have no doubt AC in the Japan setting coming soon will be the fucking ultimate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I really don't know how Covid has affected stakeholders. Far as I know, it seems the stocks in the gaming industry has come out of the pandemic pretty well for the larger companies. Everything else that hit the gaming industry like war and the chip shortage may have hit the gaming industry and developers in other ways that could have affected stakeholders as it all happened at the same time. Because the chip shortage had an effect on what engine to run their games on whether to stick to the older generation or the newer generation console. Those issues could have affected sales of games and release dates, which affects their stocks. I'm not business oriented, but those are some things that would make sense. 

[Shortie]

8 hours ago, killamch89 said:

There are some valid points here and I also think that a lot of gaming conferences with traditionally physical interaction like E3 have been heavily impacted to the point that most of the major gaming companies no longer use E3 to showcase their new offerings and instead host their own events.

This is very true. I very much so miss E3 now as it was always something I would look forward to every year and due to the pandemic we seem to have lost that now as many companies now as you say, host their own events which has taken away from one of the biggest gaming conventions of the year. It's a shame. 

[killamch89]

On 2/14/2023 at 1:27 PM, Reality vs Adventure said:

A good example is a big company like Ubisoft who has had financial problems and the pandemic pretty much opened the wound up and got infected. I've read the reason could be because Ubisoft makes such large games plus online multiplayer features that has had issues. Limiting interaction among employees when trying to make such large games kind of spurred on their decision to abandon some of the games they had planned. The new Assassin's Creed game, Mirage has a smaller map concentrating more on a particular city like some of the older games in the series. Maybe cutting back on large scale games can help them get things in order to work on bigger projects in the future. Because I have no doubt AC in the Japan setting coming soon will be the fucking ultimate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

I really don't know how Covid has affected stakeholders. Far as I know, it seems the stocks in the gaming industry has come out of the pandemic pretty well for the larger companies. Everything else that hit the gaming industry like war and the chip shortage may have hit the gaming industry and developers in other ways that could have affected stakeholders as it all happened at the same time. Because the chip shortage had an effect on what engine to run their games on whether to stick to the older generation or the newer generation console. Those issues could have affected sales of games and release dates, which affects their stocks. I'm not business oriented, but those are some things that would make sense. 

To be fair, Ubisoft has been on a downward trajectory even before Covid and with their stock prices dropping significantly in the past few years and their failed NFT project, Ubisoft is really in a bad spot because shareholders aren't happy either. The current CEO is getting chewed out both by investor and employees and it'll continue to get worse...

[Empire]

I have no complaints. I also don't have any loyalty to any brand or franchise. If something doesn't match my expectations, standards, or taste. I just roll my eyes, uninstall, get a refund/sell if possible, and move on. But it doesn't stop people buying games even over COVID in fact they made more then losses, other then working from home and support is SO slow. 

This is for steam,

 

Just think more people at home not at work or no job or are working and the numbers just gone up

[Reality vs Adventure]

21 hours ago, killamch89 said:

To be fair, Ubisoft has been on a downward trajectory even before Covid and with their stock prices dropping significantly in the past few years and their failed NFT project, Ubisoft is really in a bad spot because shareholders aren't happy either. The current CEO is getting chewed out both by investor and employees and it'll continue to get worse...

That's not good at all if they are in trouble with their investors. Money talks, so if they lose investors then hopefully Ubisoft would have enough intelligence to correct themselves or else continue the path of their own destruction. I hate to see that happen with Ubisoft, and I hope they don't become another Kotick issue. Ubisoft does have a union as just last month Ubisoft Paris union Solidaires Informatique called for a strike and even now wants to sue Ubisoft due to the work culture from the CEO. 

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/french-union-calls-for-half-day-strike-at-ubisoft-paris

 

[killamch89]

On 2/16/2023 at 1:24 PM, Reality vs Adventure said:

That's not good at all if they are in trouble with their investors. Money talks, so if they lose investors then hopefully Ubisoft would have enough intelligence to correct themselves or else continue the path of their own destruction. I hate to see that happen with Ubisoft, and I hope they don't become another Kotick issue. Ubisoft does have a union as just last month Ubisoft Paris union Solidaires Informatique called for a strike and even now wants to sue Ubisoft due to the work culture from the CEO. 

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/french-union-calls-for-half-day-strike-at-ubisoft-paris

 

The CEO was absolutely ripped a new one in a shareholder meeting held sometime last year as well as a staff meeting so he's on the ropes at the moment.

[Kane99]

Covid helped spur sales, especially in digital due to everyone being home, or working from home. I remember hearing stories about the video game industry thriving during the pandemic, aside from the fact that it did kind of hurt game development. Developers seemed to adapt, as now many studios work with developers all over the world. The gaming industry profited a ton during Covid. 

Thankfully covid seems to be on its way out. So developers can now work together again in person. Though I think many have decided to keep working from home. 

[Reality vs Adventure]

On 3/9/2023 at 12:47 PM, killamch89 said:

The CEO was absolutely ripped a new one in a shareholder meeting held sometime last year as well as a staff meeting so he's on the ropes at the moment.

Yeah, it's not looking too good for him. Shareholders, unions, consumers are all voicing their concerns now. This is what supporters of hate call cancel culture because they protect bigots. But this is how the free world works. People have unions that got their back and stage walk outs or sue. Shareholders keeping the controversial CEO's in check. And the consumer with the freedom of speech/freedom of the press and the right to boycott. Under that kind of pressure, either the CEO needs to change course if he wants to resume good business, or be relieved from the company. But continuing his path only hurts the company. And Ubisoft developing my favorite series of Assassin's Creed, I don't want to see Ubisoft go under simply because they can't change a controversial CEO. But the pressure is definitely in force now.  

[killamch89]

On 3/11/2023 at 12:15 PM, Reality vs Adventure said:

Yeah, it's not looking too good for him. Shareholders, unions, consumers are all voicing their concerns now. This is what supporters of hate call cancel culture because they protect bigots. But this is how the free world works. People have unions that got their back and stage walk outs or sue. Shareholders keeping the controversial CEO's in check. And the consumer with the freedom of speech/freedom of the press and the right to boycott. Under that kind of pressure, either the CEO needs to change course if he wants to resume good business, or be relieved from the company. But continuing his path only hurts the company. And Ubisoft developing my favorite series of Assassin's Creed, I don't want to see Ubisoft go under simply because they can't change a controversial CEO. But the pressure is definitely in force now.  

Usually, when things are going this bad at a company, the CEO while being part of the problem, isn't the only one responsible. Because CEOs normally have advisers within the company who will bring forth things like stats among others pieces of data to the CEO in order for them to make a decision. If the data they collected isn't accurate, then any decisions made based on that data will not benefit the company.

[The Blackangel]

The impact Covid had went a couple ways from what I saw. The chip shortage plus the virus itself made a sever drag in the release of the newest systems, which in turn had a spike in scalping. On the other hand, people who were quarantined and had to stay home all day were buying games left and right through DDL's. From the reports I read, there was a MASSIVE increase in digital video game sales. The shareholders in these games were dancing like idiots due to the record sales. Some games truly were record sales the franchise had never before seen. So on their end, the profits were obscene. On our end, some of us were fairly limited as to what games we held interest in.

[Syntax]

I believe that is put a huge impact on things, from events like E3 basically being dead at this point now, to game studios shutting down since they were unable to release or keep a game on track when everything shut down. Are studios back to normal? Kinda, but I still believe that without COVID we probably would have a few more studios or games come to light/life that died off during production.