BY LAASYA AKI
STAFF WRITER
Among Us, Minecraft, Fortnite, Roblox – you’ve probably played at least one of these games during the pandemic. Most of us have tried passing time through various methods. One of these methods is gaming, which is an easily accessible way to pass time. It also gives us a way to hang out with our friends virtually. So, we have definitely gained a lot from the gaming industry during the pandemic. But what about the gaming industry? How has it been affected by the pandemic?
The gaming industry had always been profitable and had made many sales before the pandemic. However, the targeted demographic was different. Before the pandemic, video game developers targeted their ads towards teenagers who were interested in computers, especially young boys. Video games were not as popular and didn’t have as huge of an impact as today. There were more ways to pass time with your friends, and there were more places where you could go. But now, we are all quarantined inside of our homes and have to maintain social distancing. This is where video games come in.
Society turned to gaming when everything started closing. Already existing games started gaining even more popularity than they previously had, and new games were developed in quarantine. These developers made many sales due to the pandemic. But it wasn’t just developers – computer and technology companies made many sales because of the escalating demand for video games.
For example, we can take a look at Among Us. Among Us is a game that became popular during quarantine. Based on the game mafia, a mystery game that requires the group to strategically vote off people based on what their role in the game is, Among Us was developed in 2018, yet it wasn’t very popular. During quarantine, it became one of the most popular games in the world. The developers, under the name InnerSloth, advertised to the right people at the right time. In November 2018, they had an average of 2 players a day. In November 2020, they had around 114,344 players per day. Among Us reached 85 million downloads in August 2020. They took advantage of the fact that people were all stuck at home and emphasized the fact that the game could be played with friends.
Many other companies and developers used the pandemic to popularize their games, as well. While we are all stuck at home, trying to pass time, developers and tech companies are developing more games and finding new ways to earn money. The pandemic is negatively affecting a majority of the population, but the gaming industry is thriving.
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