How The Coronavirus Could Potentially Affect The Gaming Industry

There's been so much talk about the Coronavirus the past couple days, that I figured I'd take a look at some of the consequences of the dramatic rise in the virus. This isn't meant to scare anyone, as this post is focused mainly on the economy of one specific industry, video games. However I strongly urge you to do your own research when it comes to other subjects. Also, wash your hands.

Let me get you caught up to at least March 13th. Both E3 and GDC has been cancelled. Many, many movies have either delayed releases or delayed shooting because of the risk of transmission. Some of those include Disney and Netflix productions. California went and banned any event with more than 250 people. We've seen SXSW get cancelled, and even Tom Hanks has the coronavirus. Now, while those things are unfortunate and even terrible, there's one reason why I think the video game industry might just be more than alright by the end of this virus. However, there's no guarantee it will. It really comes down to one thing, one thing that video games rely on most, and have capitalized on the most since the advance of its technology. The Internet. 

You're already playing online, in the comfort of your own home, unless you're at a PC bar, but more on that later. Plus each ecosystem, Playstation, Xbox, Switch, and PC, has their own way of buying games online, which is one major way of avoiding any unwanted contact. While there are benefits of having the disk version of games, it's obviously a major way of decreasing hand to hand contact and increasing "social distancing" which is a new term that's been gaining more and more usage as the virus has moved to a pandemic. And as schools close and people start to have to work from home, there's going to be lots of free time for people, and what better way to spend that free time than gaming. 

So if things keep looking like they are, I'm predicting a dramatic decrease in disk sales, and we're going to be seeing a steep incline of downloaded games. But games are just one aspect of the gaming industry as a whole. What's more important than that, are the developers who make the games. With the spread of the virus looming over the entire country, many are working from home. For those developers, the office is the only place where they can brainstorm with coworkers, work on the game, and most importantly, get paid. I'm sure the first thing many people would think of when talking about video games, are the games themselves. "Awww man, I hope _____ doesn't get delayed!" Meanwhile the people making the games are sitting at home without a paycheck. Mainly for those indie developers who only employ a few people at a time. So hopefully those people are being taken care of first and foremost. 

Hardware is another thing that has to be looked at carefully. Sony and Microsoft both rely on Chinese labor to build their consoles, and with the halt of many Chinese factories, one has to think about the ramifications that must have on the release windows of both the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X. While both companies have stated they were looking at Holiday 2020 as their release window, it's going to be hard not to question if slower production could push those windows further into 2021. 

Remember when I mentioned PC bars earlier? For those who don't know what these are, it's basically a small shop with several computers set up next to each other, sometimes with Playstation and Xbox consoles set up as well. However with the virus spreading more rapidly that previously thought, these shops could see dramatic decreases in people flowing in. With washing hands and disinfecting being so important during these times, it could definitely be possible that these PC bars could be hubs of infectious disease to begin with, while adding coronavirus to the mix making for an even deadlier ordeal. 

While focusing on the video game industry might seem not so important with everything going on, I thought why not shed some light on what could potentially happen to something I'm sure most of us love. What's most important right now are these few things. Wash your hands as often as you can. Don't touch your face. And finally be courteous to one another, these past few days have been pretty scary and we don't need to be dicks to each other on top of it.