Video game companies realized that the high demand for their products during the pandemic phase was closed; Players are devoting less time to it than they did last year, and spending less on it, but the sector nonetheless seems to be in a better position than others to withstand the current difficult economic conditions.
Brandon Williams, who appears under the name “BW Paco” on “Twitch”, noted that users “both live viewers, and bystanders, have a huge appetite” for the video game streaming platform at the beginning of the health crisis.
But the 30-year-old added that he had spoken “with quite a few people who stopped broadcasting because they were tired, or because they didn’t have much time since they returned to work in attendance.”
Twitch Tracker reported that the number of simultaneous online viewers on the Amazon platform exceeded the average of two million in 2020 for the first time, and then reached 3 million in April 2021.
But since the spring, and the resumption of many large-scale attendance activities, attendance has declined. But with an average of 2.6 million simultaneous spectators, the rate remains higher than it was before the pandemic.
However, the slight slowdown in the growth rate of video games does not negate that they produce better results than many technology companies that have resorted to reducing hiring, or even firing employees.
NBD analyst Matt Piscatella expects total consumer spending on video games to reach $55.5 billion in the United States in 2022, down 8.7% from last year, but up 28% from 2019.
The American video game publisher Activision Blizzard, which will be acquired by Microsoft, saw its sales decline in the second quarter for the third time in a row, and its profits were reduced to a minimum, mainly because players spent less time on one of its main games, “Call of Duty”. ».
The sales of the two rival companies in the field of game consoles, Microsoft and Sony, also declined year on year, as users are staying less at home.
There are even signs of decline in mobile gaming spending.
As for “Roblox”, its growth slowed and its losses expanded, as the number of users of the gaming platform reached 52.2 million daily users at the end of last June, which is about two million less than it was in the first quarter, but 21% more than it was a year ago.
Analysts stressed that the correction was expected after the epidemic boom and was not inevitable, especially in light of a crisis economic climate.
Omedia analyst Stephen Bailey noted that the difficulties in supplying components are slowing down the production of new consoles, and there are deadlines until 2023 for the release of important games such as “Starfield” and “Suicide Squad”, and others.
The delay in new games is one factor in this stagnation, but it also leads to the belief that it will be temporary.
The expert stated that about 76% of American consumers play video games of all kinds. He added, “We are witnessing a continuous growth in subscriptions to services such as Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, which provide a number of games at a total cost less than the cost of purchasing individual games.”
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