The world is turning to video games amid coronavirus outbreak

Games like 'Fortnite' are seeing spikes in users, as governments around the world lock down their cities and countries. (Image: Epic Games)
Games like 'Fortnite' are seeing spikes in users, as governments around the world lock down their cities and countries. (Image: Epic Games)

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As the coronavirus forces companies to shutter their offices across the world and lockdowns go into effect, people are increasingly turning to video games to pass the time and interact with friends and family they may not see in person for the foreseeable future.

And that, in turn, means spikes in users jumping online to play games ranging from Epic’s “Fortnite” to Activision Blizzard’s (ATVI) free-to-download “Call of Duty: Warzone,” which saw 15 million players in just four days following its launch on March 10. EA’s “Apex Legends,” which is also free-to-play, saw 2 million downloads during its first day of availability in February 2019.

In Italy, so many people have been playing “Fortnite” that it’s begun to stress the country’s telecom systems, according to Bloomberg. Valve’s Steam platform, meanwhile, recorded a record 20 million users playing simultaneously on March 15, as the virus began to spread more in the U.S.

With so many people playing, and likely many downloading new games, industry stocks, though hurt by the recent market crash, are still performing better than the broader indices by as much as 10%. And, with two new home consoles from Microsoft and Sony coming by the end of the year, the industry could see greater growth come November.

Millions of gamers online

With schools from New York to California shutting down and millions of kids staying home, gaming networks are seeing a crush of players hitting their services.

Valve Corporation, the maker of the gaming distribution platform Steam, saw a record number of players on March 15, with as many as 20 million players online at one time. That came a month after 19 million people were on the service at once. As of March 17, Steam had 19.75 million peak users.

In Italy the country’s Telecom Italia reported a massive surge in bandwidth usage from players signing on to play games like “Fortnite.” According to the company, there was a 70% increase in web traffic usage in the time since Italy was put on lockdown on March 9.

Activision Blizzard's new 'Call of Duty Warzone' is a free-to-play game that's been downloaded 15 million times in just its first 4 days of availability. (Image: Activision Blizzard)
Activision Blizzard's new 'Call of Duty Warzone' is a free-to-play game that's been downloaded 15 million times in just its first 4 days of availability. (Image: Activision Blizzard)

“We believe video games will be a popular option as directives for ‘social distancing’ continue around the world and people look for stay-at-home entertainment,” Piper Sandler’s Michael Olson wrote in an analyst note Tuesday.

“In particular, the publishers could see an uptick in digital downloads of full games and DLC as well as micro-transactions. Also, with sports leagues suspended, we could see increased participation in virtual sports, such as FIFA (EA) and NBA 2K (TTWO).”

Microsoft’s (MSFT) head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, tweeted on March 15 that the company was seeing increased usage across the board, and that its teams were working to keep the firm’s Xbox Live service up and running.