As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to take its toll on the global economy, numerous industries experience a serous decrease in revenue. However, the gaming and iGaming industry are exhibiting significant growth. As home quarantining is still at large, gaming companies are experiencing quite a significant increase not just in sales but in play hours as well.
Simply put, what this means it that now that people have more “free” time on their hands, they increasingly resort to this type of entertainment. What’s even more interesting is that there are plenty of gaming companies releasing some of their titles for free download. Aside from that, there are also various other incentives being offered to players in both gaming and iGaming realm. So, without further ado, let’s see how gaming and iGaming industries became economy drivers in 2020.
Device expansion
In the early days of gaming, players had an option to either play games on their desktop computers or enjoy them in land-based casinos. However, thanks to modern technology, this is no longer the case. Nowadays, the gaming industry expanded its reach to include almost all mobile devices. Of course, this expansion is closely related to the mobile expansion itself. Since nowadays almost every person in the world has – at least one – smartphone, not taping into such a market would simply be silly. Such a shift in the gaming world didn’t only include new ways to enjoy your favorite games. Instead, it also brought forth numerous other titles players could explore and enjoy. What’s more, this made gaming not only easier but more easily accessible and widespread as well.
Type expansion
So far players had a chance to experience some of the biggest changes in the types of games presented. Merely three decades ago large-scale multiplayer games were not really a thing in the sense they are today. Nowadays, the ever-changing gaming industry – and technology – is constantly working to one-up their previous titles. That’s why there is such a huge shift in not only the titles modern gamers are presented with but content as well. For instance, virtual reality casino games became extremely sought-after ever since VR technology appeared on the market. Understandably, any gaming company that chooses to embrace new technology and make it a part of their offer will instantly benefit. And not only that but with the environment constantly changing, it’s understandable why these industries are currently in the economic lead.
Unexpected factors to take into consideration
While the gaming and the iGaming industries are currently doing really well, it’s still important to remember that this is just the current situation. What this means is that gamers nowadays do have more time to dedicate to their favorite titles, but it’s not realistic to expect the same in the future. This is particularly true when you consider the fact that none of us can really predict what the future will hold. While nowadays people do stay at home more and generally have more free time, that doesn’t mean it became a new norm. So, even though everything currently goes in favor of these two leading industries, it would be unrealistic to call it or treat it as a new norm.
Regional expansions
Next, we simply can’t talk about gaming and iGaming industry becoming economy drivers without mentioning regional expansion. In the past, the most dominant region on the market was Asia Pacific. This is most likely due to the fact that China became a major gaming hub. However, nowadays, we can see that the number of gamers has been on a steady rise globally. The rise of online gaming competitions and tournaments also made this expansion possible. And since the majority of things shifted online ever since the pandemic broke out, we can only expect even more of them to follow suit.
Further advancements
In the end, the changes that are constantly happening in these two industries will only continue to evolve. Aside from everything introduced by game developers, gaming and iGaming companies are also working hard on improving the ways in which players can interact with the game itself. That’s why so many companies are looking to implement voice over options and additional useful advancements in their offers as well.
Knowing all of this, it’s really not surprising that gaming and iGaming industries are taking the lead in the economy market of 2020. However, we are yet to see how things progress further once things go back to the way they were before the pandemic.
