By Nicholas Kim
Since COVID-19 struck the world, most forms of entertainment like movies, TV shows, and sporting events were forced to shut down and have their programs delayed. Now video games have grown more popular as it is considered to be a form of escapism from this grim reality.
COVID-19 has made video games explode in popularity because consumers were forced to stay at home and entertain themselves. New gaming systems like the PS5 and the Xbox Series X have caused mass consumerism with people desperately trying to order them online or go to Gamestops on Black Friday to purchase in-person. New video games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Cyberpunk 2077 have attracted so much attention that video game players want to have the chance of playing new things. Playing new video games gives players opportunities to escape their realities and enter the game’s reality, and have fun with whatever surprises games have in store for them.
Since people don’t spend much time outside due to the pandemic, video games became a way of allowing people to connect through multiplayer platforms. Multiplayer games like Fornite and Call of Duty: Warzone allow players to battle one another instead of playing against computers. It is much more exhilarating because computer A.I.s are simple and easy to defeat while human players are unpredictable because of the choices and moves they make. The open world experience that video games provide is a lot of work and the people who create them understand what humanity is going through in this pandemic. Gaming products are just what people need: a chance to experience new realities.
The increase in both game sales and usage are likely to not be sustained as consumers leave their homes more often and life slowly returns to some semblance of normalcy. There is still a chance that things might fall back to a much higher baseline, as COVID-19 permanently changed peoples’ entertainment habits, further steeping the world in gaming culture.
