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The Coronavirus pandemic originated in China in the city of Wuhan and it had infected over 10 million people worldwide at the time when this article was written. The virus has definitely changed our lives and the way we work, study, act or stay entertained. The imposed lockdowns all over the globe have severely influenced all social and economic activities, ranging from international football championships, the 2020 Summer Olympics to global video game conferences or the launch of highly anticipated games. Surprisingly or not, user engagement has been significantly stimulated and increased when it comes to e-sports and video games that were already benefitting from huge crowds.
With the majority of country governments either advising or ordering citizens to stay at home to help curb the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus, gaming platforms' revenues have skyrocketed. Also, many of the rather shy trends that were starting to pop up in the gaming and gambling industry pushed the pedal to the metal. Let us take a closer look at the global impact of the coronavirus on the gaming industry.
Without a doubt, being forced to stay indoors for months in a row has forced lots of people to come up with entertaining, fun or relaxing activities to help them better cope with the stress, anxiety and permanent state of tension. Many of them directed their attention to video games more than ever and this helped the industry grow and thrive in unexpected ways. Social distancing significantly dropped the number of consumers and reduced all business activities to a low. This, in turn, made lots of individuals with no apparent interest for games prior to the pandemic take a look at the rich gaming offers and engage in this form of distraction that also offers a form of interaction with others. Official figures speak about an amazing growth in gamers' playtime, as well as a boost in ever since the global lockdown was initiated.
By the end of 2020, the international market for video games is expected to reach $159 billion. This figure is about thrice as big as the revenues in the music industry and Asia-Pacific records most revenues, accounting for more than half of the market value. At the same time, North America accounts for about a quarter of the total revenue.
Today, players tend to purchase fewer games compared to a decade ago, but instead, choose to spend more time playing their favourite games. This has helped reshape the old business model that focused on single-game units to revenue that is now recurring and triggered by a huge database of active gamers. Accordingly, the industry is interested in finding new ways of beefing up user engagement. This is not only done through the creation of games that are more entertaining than ever, but also by embracing more monetisation solutions within the games. The trends include fresh game features, tools, expansion packs and other types of downloadable content.
Just like the casino gambling industry has expanded to a great extent in its mobile form thanks to the serious improvements that have been made in terms of internet speeds, bandwidth and hardware, the same can be said about mobile video games. Almost half of the revenues in the industry are generated by mobile players.
Video game competitions that welcome and host hundreds of video gamers are shaping up the e-sports sector this year, with revenue projections speaking of over one billion in 2020. Professional sports and the ads and competition broadcasting tied to them are the primary sources of revenue here. E-Sports has also been connected to the continuous growth of the gaming industry during the pandemic, in spite of the way the virus spread and its threat have put a halt to the development of both hardware and software in the gaming industry.
Through their charity donations worth millions as well as surplus computer power donations that can aid the research for the better understanding of the COVID-19, gaming companies all around the world have shown their amazing support for hospitals, as well as children at risk and other vulnerable social categories. Comcast speaks about an 80 percent increase in the number of freshly released downloaded games online during the pandemic and a 50% increase in the total number of game downloads, so gaming companies have plenty of reasons to show their generosity. Tencent giant managed to sell close to 50 percent of its games in their digital form, boosting its profits by more than 40 percent.
Casinos online have recorded similar growth given people's need to socially interact online and find new ways to entertain themselves during the extra spare time they now have. Land Australian casinos reported a drop in their revenues, given the lack of wealthy VIP tourists coming from the Asian continent, as a direct result of the social-distancing measures that force people to keep a 1.5-meter distance from one another. This has led to the deactivation of every second pokie machine as well as electronic table games, severely limiting the number of seats and tables.
Naturally, players chose to go online and luckily there are plenty of real money casinos online that are Australian-friendly and can effectively cater to the needs of some of the most fervent casino gamers in the world. Our platform has constantly upgraded lists of recommended casinos online for all players and areas of interest, so be sure to check those out first!
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