Video games and online entertainment companies reported a massive surge in users amid the lockdowns and countermeasures imposed by governments worldwide. With schools closed and some employees asked to work from home, consumers are now turning to online content platforms and video games for entertainment.
Video game marketplace Steam reported a record number of users on Sunday, which apparently reached more than 20 million concurrent users. The most popular title on the largest digital PC gaming marketplace was Valve's online shooting video game Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which had a peak of over 1 million concurrent players over the weekend. The number of users managed to beat the game's previous record, which was set back in 2016.
Other companies such as Activision Blizzard and China's Tencent reported similarly large surges in concurrent users over the weekend for their respective flagship titles such as Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, Call of Duty Warzone, and Apex Legends.
While the companies may be experiencing an influx of users, their stocks are nowhere near safe from the effects of the epidemic on the global equities market. Activision Blizzard reported a 9 percent decline in its stock prices since the start of the year, while other harder hit gaming firms such as Nintendo reported larger dips in their stock prices.
The increase in the number of online gamers also coincides with reports coming from telecommunications providers, which had similar surges in online traffic over the past couple of days. Italy's Telecom Italia reported a 70 percent increase in traffic over its network during the weekend as the country continues to be under strict lockdown.
Chinese live-streaming video service platform Douyin, also known as Tik Tok, reported an increase in new users and viewers over the weekend. Apart from video games, people all across the globe have increased their consumption of online content as they subject themselves to home confinement.
In China, short videos have become popular content to consume online. According to industry data, Tik Tok's daily active users have increased to more than 311 million since the start of the year. This represented a more than 100 percent increase when compared to the same period a year earlier.
Some workers such as yoga instructors, teachers, and trainers have also begun to utilize online platforms such as Tik-Tok to continue with their work through live stream classes that their clients can access while they are at home.
The Chinese short video platform and those similar to it have also been transformed into a useful tool by government agencies to provide timely information about the epidemic, including prevention tips and policy announcements.
