As many of you guy may have heard, the coronavirus has been the talk of the town. Every news media is reporting on it and the casualties from this virus has continually gone up, with no sign of it slowing down.
This has taken a big toll on the Chinese economy, which in turn affects every facet of its industry, including gaming. So I wanted to take a closer look at the Coronavirus & the impact it’s having on gaming in China!
Of course I am not suggesting that the only important thing from this whole coronavirus epidemic is the impact it has on the gaming market, but since this blog focuses on all things geek pop culture, I thought it would be interesting to take a look. According to Niko Partner, in regards to mobile gaming:
“total games downloads on the iOS app store were up 27.5% YoY and revenue was up 12.1% YoY. The addition of Lunar New Year events and content in games contributed to the increased spending, yet we attribute most of the increase to the impact of the novel coronavirus which led to more gamers staying at home instead of traveling or socializing outside of the home, allowing more time to play games.”
Niko Partners
That’s not too surprising seeing as many will have to find ways to pass the time as they’re endure the quarantine set up by the Chinese government. However, things beginning to look grim as we take a loo at console manufacturing:
“The outbreak will also impact manufacturing of electronics including smartphones and video game consoles as the number of cases increases in areas such as Guangdong, where a majority of manufacturing resides. Nintendo reported that it was already seeing some impact from the coronavirus on the production of Switch video game consoles.”
“Whilst Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft have recently taken steps to move some production outside of China, a 2018 report from the three platform holders stated that 96% of video game consoles imported into the US are manufactured in China.“
Niko Partners
It goes without saying that esport has taken a hit too, considering you have to leave your home to participate. However, it is very interesting to see how this virus as impacted the gaming scene in not just China, but how that in turn links to the rest of the world.
Let’s hope we can develop a vaccine soon to deal with this epidemic and put it behind us. What do you guys think of the Coronavirus and the impact it’s having on gaming in China? Let me know in the comments below!
