By Xyreen Reyes

As the UK enters its millionth week in lockdown, the question on everyone’s minds is - what should I do now?

From taking up new hobbies like baking and yoga, to making TikTok dance videos, there seems to be an endless supply of new and creative trends that are keeping people satisfied during these lockdowns. So, what else are an increasing number of people (including myself) doing to avoid boredom?

Gaming.

The gaming industry has boomed since the start of the first lockdown last year, with approximately over 3 million gaming consoles sold in the UK, and the Nintendo Switch outselling both the PS5 and PS4. 

In the US, 2020 saw a 62% increase in consumer spending of PC gaming hardware and accessories since 2019. The UK’s digital and physical game market saw incredible increases in revenue including a 14.5% rise from 2019 to 2020, surpassing £4billion. 

However, this is not to say that all areas of the UK’s gaming industry is flourishing. Despite the rise of gaming activity, Covid-19 has still hit the UK’s gaming industry hard.

Productivity has weakened as a result from working at home, along with reduced commissions for smaller studios, and advertisers withdrawing from firms. Nonetheless, the popularity of video games, especially online video games, has been boosted during the Covid-19 lockdowns as the public are forced to stay at home, with many entering the video game world instead. 

During these lockdowns, video games have been vital in helping young people socialise and keep in touch with others, with over half of 13 - 18 year olds claiming to use video games to socialise with friends. As a result, games involving online multiplayer functions such as Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Warzone and Electronic Arts’ Fifa have seen surges in players and activity over the course of the first lockdown back in early 2020. 

Nintendo’s Animal Crossing: New Horizons has sold 31.8 million copies since its release in March 2020, making it the second best-selling Nintendo Switch game as of February 2021. Despite the franchise already being well-known, this is an outstanding accomplishment considering that it is not yet a year old - although I suspect that the game being released around the start of UK’s lockdown 1.0 might also be a factor to its success. 

People are not only playing games, but also watching other people play games too. Live-streaming has become a global phenomenon, with the industry up a staggering  99% from 2019 to 2020. Particularly, between March and April 2020 (around the start of lockdown 1.0), there was a 45% growth, indicating that people have also turned to live-streaming amidst the pandemic. 

Sectors of the gaming industry such as eSports have definitely benefited from this, considering some leagues and competitions have turned to online streaming since indoor arenas are unavailable to be played in. The platform, Twitch, even has an eSports directory, as a result of the growing demand of eSports content, to help viewers find streams, streamers, and information related to eSports.

This growth in the gaming industry not only shows that people are keeping themselves occupied playing or watching video games, but that there could be positive impacts on the future of the gaming industry itself. 

The biggest gaming hub in the UK is unsurprisingly centred in London, but reports from recent years show that other towns and cities are becoming significant players in the UK’s gaming industry, especially in terms of game development.

For instance, Leamington Spa, home to Codemasters and Blitz Games, appears to be on its way to becoming the next big gaming hub within the UK - 1 in every 50 residents is employed in games development, with 500 more jobs in game development estimated to be created by 2022. 

Stoke-on-Trent is another area outside of London with exciting prospects as a gaming hub with an educational plan set to produce a game school for 14 - 18 year olds, as well as a full-fibre network by April 2021 which paves the way for “Silicon Stoke”’s digital revolution. 

As these gaming hubs are spread across the country, this helps games companies capitalise on regional resources, which other creative industries are far behind on. These gaming hubs provide a hopeful outlook of the UK’s gaming industry, fuelled by the heightened increase in video games as a result of the pandemic.

Nevertheless, it’s still uncertain what will happen to the number of players and activity once society no longer has to stay at home. There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has helped this rise in gaming activity and the increased number of gamers, so there is growing speculation about what will happen when people start logging out and going outside instead. Perhaps we will see by the end of this year.

But for me? 

I remain optimistic, logged in, ready, and not yet willing to log out.