It’s not a joke: Gamesindustry believes both the gaming industry and the console sales see a surge due to the coronavirus outbreak.

You can spend time playing games if you are stuck at home. Software-wise, we already saw results of it – previously, we wrote how Steam has broken the concurrent user record -, but the gaming industry could also see an upturn in hardware sales, which is interesting at the end of a console generation. Usually, the opposite happens, as not many people buy the old consoles in anticipation of the new one.

Gamesindustry has looked at GSD’s non-U.S. market data for the video games in March. In the week of March 16-22, there was a 52% increase in digital sales compared to the week before. It doesn’t include the United States, neither the launch of Doom Eternal or Animal Crossing: New Horizons – both launched on March 20. France and Italy both saw a nearly 200% increase, which is probably why Sony introduced throttling on the PlayStation Network in Europe (and in the Americas…).

Surprisingly, physical game sales have also seen a boost. 17 physical retail markets saw a week-on-week 82% increase, which, again, doesn’t involve the new Doom or Animal Crossing titles. Italy, however, is an exception, where the physical sales decreased to nearly half of the week before. It makes sense, as there’s a harsh curfew in that country, and buying games in a game store is not considered essential. You can buy a game from a supermarket, though, but that’s not possible everywhere.

The console sales had a 155% increase on the March 16-22 week. In Europe, Asia, and Africa, a total of 255169 consoles were purchased.

However, we wrote „short term” in the title for a good reason. There will be layoffs, and delaying games could also cause problems (Wasteland 3 has been delayed to August, for example). So the situation is not that bright, and sure, you can work from home in the gaming industry, not everyone can do that. Thus, no wonder a few analysts believe that after the surge in sales, a slump is going to happen.

Source: PSL

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