Computer game industry - Corona crisis winner
37,000 people pushed their way through the Cologne exhibition halls to Gamescom last year. But this year the gigantic exhibition has to take place digitally because of the corona pandemic. The industry will cope with it, because it is booming like never before due to Corona.
March 20, 2020. The time of lockdown, #stayathome and apocalyptic supermarket battles for the last roll of toilet paper. The head of the WHO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus appeals to the solidarity of the people and gives tips against stress and anxiety.
Crisis winner computer game industry
"Listen to music, read a book or play a game!" Says the man from WHO. Today, months after this appeal, one can state that the world has at least taken this advice from Corona to heart. Because never before has there been so much gaming as in lockdown and that is one of the reasons why there is hardly any industry that has won the corona crisis as much as the computer game industry, says Petra Fröhlich, editor-in-chief of the industry magazine "GamesWirtschaft".
“Apart from hardware stores, Netflix and manufacturers of FFP2 masks, there is probably hardly any other industry that has benefited so much from the lockdown and the corona restrictions as the games industry. Several things come together: Millions of people are still affected by the corona restrictions. If only because school and daycare are canceled. That means there is an incredible amount of free time that has to be filled and at the same time many of the usual leisure activities are canceled. In other words, the money that you would otherwise spend on going to the cinema or on an amusement park, on a Bundesliga weekend, on concerts or on vacation, everything flows into smartphones, apps or PC, games, new consoles, hardware and so on."
The Switch console from Nintendo was meanwhile sold out and only available for moon prices. The corresponding software was also very popular: the life simulation "Animal Crossing", a motley counter-throw to the dreary Corona reality, became a mega-seller. On the PC, people suddenly dug out “World of Warcraft” again and wandered from home as elves and dwarves through the fantasy landscape of Azeroth. And Paradox, a Swedish company famous for its complex and time-consuming strategy games, was able to announce excellent quarterly results thanks to Corona.Soon more employees than at the beginning of the crisis
And something else helped and helps the computer games industry: unlike the cinema, live music, theater or sports, you could quickly switch to home office mode here. Game production continued, apart from a few postponements. But not only the big companies benefit, the corona flood lifts all games boats. The German manufacturers also got through the crisis well overall, says Petra Fröhlich from "GamesWirtschaft":
“I am also only aware of a very few cases in which, for example, short-time work has occurred. In most cases, new employees have even been hired and many studios are also planning to employ more people at the end of the year than at the beginning of the crisis. And that is not a matter of course in these times and is therefore basically good news. "
An experiment followed closely
One question, however, remains: Can a Corona Gamescom work? Can a Gamescom work without the crowds, without screaming teenagers, without fun fair techno, long lines, cosplayers and T-shirt cannons, without all the nonsense that makes a Gamescom a Gamescom? One thing is clear: The most important consumer fair for digital games is even more important this year than usual. The new consoles from Sony and Microsoft are due to appear in autumn, and the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X will enable even more opulent computer games. But there will be no “hands on” for normal Otto players this time.
“And of course that is also very problematic for the game manufacturers, because many of the innovations cannot really present themselves well. With the Playstation 5, for example, one of the innovations is explicitly the gamepad. Sensors and motors were installed here. That was already the case before, but the player should now feel more intensely when a pawn sneaks through the grass or the gang crashes in a Formula 1 car. That means the games become more realistic. And it is precisely this progress that will literally not be felt. For the Gamescom participants this year it is a particular shame. "
Gamescom will be an experiment that is being followed closely this year. Because if Corona-Gamescom should be a success despite all adversities, it will also become a model for other trade fairs.
