Unless you are living under a rock, you have probably heard of COVID-19, the virus that is taking the world by storm at the moment. Many industries are being heavily affected by the Virus such as the health industry, toilet paper industry, and the education industry. But how will this virus affect the gaming industry? Let’s find out.
1. Video games productions are being halted.
At the moment, the health advice around the world is that nonessential workers should work from home, if possible. As you probably guessed, many big gaming companies have of course asked their employees to work from homes, such as Rockstar and Google. The problem with this is, a massive part of gaming development is collaboration. If the workers are working from home, the collaboration becomes much harder, which could indeed delay the production of some games. Along with the actual video games being delayed, hardware such as the Nintendo Switch is also halting production, resulting in a shortage of gaming consoles and equipment. It is also very possible that the Xbox One X or the PS5 could be delayed.
2. Gaming events are being cancelled
If you have been keeping up with the gaming news, you will have seen that dozens of gaming events are being canceled. Some examples of these include Twitchcon, E3 and the Nintendo Events. Over the next few weeks, we can expect dozens of more gaming events to be canceled, possibly including Twitchcon NA.
3. Servers are being overloaded due to the COVID-19 isolation
Everyone is stuck at home at the moment, in self-isolation. In fact, Over 76% of students worldwide are currently stuck at home. What do people do when they are stuck at home you may ask? They play video games. With hundreds of thousands more online than usual, the servers for some video games are being heavily overloaded.
4. E-Sport events will have no audiences
One of the greatest things about events such as the Fortnite World Cup or the Call of Duty league is the live audience of supporters that are there to cheer on their favorite team or players. Now, this won’t be a thing for a while. E-sport events will either go ahead in an arena with no live audience or they will ask players to play from home if the event isn’t completely canceled like the Overwatch League or Call of Duty League.
Some of the most popular events have been moved online or cancelled. That includes the following…
- WWDC (World Wide Developer Conference) – Being held digitally
- E3 – Cancelled
- Twitch Con Amsterdam – Cancelled
- GDC – Postponed
- Minecraft Festival – Cancelled
- Rocket League World Championships- Cancelled
We will be keeping you up to date with the latest COVID-19 situation right here, on Treyex Hub. Just like you, we are hoping that we can recover from the COVID-19 situation asap.