The world’s economy isn’t doing too hot at the moment. There are many reasons for this, although the coronavirus pandemic has certainly not helped as many businesses are forced to close either temporarily or permanently, thus putting a lot of people out of work. People are also unwilling to spend on luxuries anymore, or are they?According to a study conducted by NPD, it seems that over in the US, gamers are actually spending record amounts of money on games more so than ever. Based on the earnings during the second quarter of 2020, the study found that gamers spent $11.6 billion, which is a 30% increase over the same period in 2019, and also represents a 7% increment from the first quarter where gamers spent $10.9 billion.
According to Mat Piscatella, games industry analyst at The NPD Group, “During the pandemic, many have turned to video games not only to keep them preoccupied, but also to stay in touch with family and friends. This has resulted in an acceleration of what were already established trends towards heightened video game player engagement. I don’t see any signs of this slowing down.”
This phenomenon actually doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Companies like Apple have also seemed to have benefitted from the pandemic, where the company is said to have earned as much as $32.8 billion in the first half of 2020.