Sales of the latest video games have spiked since most people have shifted their interest to video gaming during the self-isolation period. Governments are locking down cities and borders and urging residents to keep off social gatherings to help control the novel virus.
Nintendo, a Japanese video game company is recording high profits owing to its latest release of the Animal Crossing franchise titled New Horizon. The latter was launched on March 20th. According to Famitsu, a video game company, they sold over 1.8 million copies of New Horizon within the first three days in Japan. Similarly, the games industry. biz reports that they also sold a lot of copies in its first week of release in the U.K.
Analysts describe the good sales as a breakthrough.
The social simulation game enables the player to create an icon representing a person who engages in activities like collecting resources and fishing. To create new tools and virtual home. Research director for games at Ampere Analysis, Piers Harding-Rolls emailed that the sales results exceeded their expectations. Unlike Animal Crossing, the recent release has earned Nintendo a big breakthrough.
Analysts state the good sales were because of coronavirus.
However, senior analyst Daniel Ahmed was less perplexed by the sales. He said he expected heightened sales from the game. Although admitted the immediate response of the sales was past his expectations. Analysts relate the spike up in-game sales to coronavirus pandemic. Since most cities across the globe are under lockdown and outdoor activities suspended, most people have shifted to gaming. Precisely to fight boredom.
“COVID-19 has ultimately helped boost sales as more people are under lockdown and gaming is a safe and low-cost form of entertainment,” said Ahmad.
Harding-Rolls says since most gamers have a lot of extra time as of now, they opt for gaming. He also said since games like Animal Crossing is a converse of the challenges most people are facing from coronavirus pandemic; most people love it.
Game enthusiasts are also flocking to games like First-person shooter and Doom Eternal. During their launch on 20th March, the response was great. It was one of the best launches in the franchise’s history.
Andrew Little, a research analyst at Global X, says that over the past month there has been an increase in consumer purchase of video games. They compare this to the previous year, the same month.
Video games are helping people to maintain contact.
Video games are not only providing an interaction with the virtual world but also help in maintaining connectivity. Analysts i.e. Harding-Rolls and Ahmad reported that the online games will record a boost during this quarantine period since most people are at home. Especially since even those who never played often now have adequate time to game. Another group of gamers is those who had lapsed initially but are now back in the game. There is a likelihood that online competition games will receive the greatest response since it provides an avenue for networking. When the real world remains on lockdown, games will provide a platform for networking.
The video game sector appears to be thriving amidst the economic impact of coronavirus.
The video game sectors appear to be thriving during corona crises, despite other economic sectors deteriorating. For instance, VanEck’s Gaming and Esports are up by 2%, ETFMG Video Game Tech has only reduced by 5%. While compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500, they have recorded the worst losses of 23.2% and 20% respectively.
However, there is still no certainty about how the virus will impact global sales on video games. Harding-Rolls says overall sales were affected because of the lockdown in most retail game shops in the world. Similarly, Ahmad says the boost in sales will only last for a short time because of the lockdown imposed by the government.
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