Because of the coronavirus lockdown, people are resorting to games. According to Nielsen, the United States has seen a 45 percent increase in the time spent in games. Moreover, users have begun to spend more money on games.
From March 23 to 29, Nielsen interviewed 3,000 players across four countries. The company conducts surveys every month, so analysts compared the result with the data obtained before the pandemic.
So, players in the surveyed countries are now spending more time in games:
- in the USA, game usage has increased by 45%;
- in France, by 38%;
- in the UK, by 29%;
- in Germany, by 20%.
Online play has also increased:
- in the USA, 29 of players have started spending more time in online game since the beginning of the lockdown;
- in the UK, 17% of players are more likely to play online than offline these days;
- in France, the same is true for 12%;
- no data for Germany.
User spending has spiked:
- in the US, 39% of players have begun to spend more money since the start of the pandemic;
- in the UK, France and Germany, at least 23% are have found their spending increased.
42% of US users surveyed also noted that since the beginning of the lockdown, they have started buying games from digital stores, rather than from retailers.
In addition, 50% of US users have began to watch more gaming streams. In France, 40% of viewers exhibited the same behaviour.