Gaming hours and revenue up amid self-isolation

The number of hours that people are playing games has spiked since more and more countries have implemented self-isolation rules. An increase in spending on games has also been seen alongside this spike in playtime.

Nielson has shared survey data, from a survey they conducted across 3,000 active gamers. These people were defined as someone who owns at least one of either the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or PC, plays a game for at least an hour once a week, and has purchased a new game in the past six months. The survey covers gamers from the US, UK, France, and Germany.

Around 20 percent of those gamers said that they are now playing games more actively than they were before self-isolation was implemented where they live. In the US, 45 percent of gamers are now playing games more actively, in France it’s 38 percent of people, and in the UK it’s 29 percent of people.

As is expected, there has been a big increase in people playing games with each other online, as opposed to in person. In the US, about 29 percent of people are now playing online with others instead of playing games on their own.

While gaming has increased overall in France, only 5 percent of gamers said that they were playing online with friends on a more frequent basis. 9 percent of gamers said that they were playing games more in person, which is thought to be down to families being in lockdown together and needing something to do.

Spending on games has also increased. In the US, 39 percent of gamers said that they are now spending more on games, and 42 percent said that they were buying more digital content in particular. Overall, at least 23 percent of gamers from all countries surveyed are now spending more on games digitally. With it being much harder to get a physical copy of a game, this is hardly surprising.

Adding onto this survey, about 40 percent of French respondents said that they were watching more streamed game content, which about half of all those in the US said the same.