Influences of COVID19 on the gaming industry and gaming habits

Redefinition of an industry

When the pandemic hit in 2020, many aspects of our lives changed. Many of these changes are irreversible.
It redefined the way we share experiences together, and gaming was at the center of it.
This is an exploration, not just about the games we play and the hardware we use, but about how we changed with it.

Steam and Covid around the Globe

The following heatmap uses data from confirmed COVID cases alongside data from Steam's user-surveys, specifically tracking the extrapolated number of active users during the time of the pandemic. By comparing these two datasets, we can observe how lockdown measures and social distancing directly influenced the rise in digital gaming platforms, particularly Steam.
0> 2MCovid Cases0> 2MCovid Cases
0> 5MActive Steam Users0> 5MActive Steam Users
The world maps have been focused to show the most noticeable areas of changes. Sources: John Hopkins University, Worldpopulationreview, Steam UserDB.
Date : 02|2020

Key observations

Countries with strict lockdowns, such as those in Europe, show a more dramatic rise in gaming usage, suggesting that gaming served as both a distraction and a social outlet during isolation periods. There was a surge in Steam users across the globe, particularly in the first year of the pandemic, which aligns with the time people spent in quarantine. Steam usage not only soared in countries with the highest case numbers but also in regions that experienced relatively milder cases, showcasing a widespread change in gaming habits. The heatmap also indicates that even after initial lockdowns were lifted, gaming remained an important activity, as evidenced by continuing growth in users in the subsequent years.
Covid19 reshaped the world.
And it reshaped gaming.
0%2%4%6%8%10%12%14%16%18%ActionAction-AdventureAdventureMusicPuzzleRole-PlayingShooterSimulation

Change in culture

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With growing case numbers, lockdowns and time indoors increased as well. Not only did the pandemic change the relevance of games, but also the experiences we search within them.
It is apparent that the market is merging the genres Action and Adventure into the rising Action-Adventure genre.
Laid back genres like Simulation, Puzzle and Music games saw a tremendous decrease, with the latter even vanishing out of our list completely, more action-packed games like RPGs and Shooter games saw a significant bump in popularity.
While the graph does not show if games are Single- or Multiplayer, genres that generally come with Multiplayer or Coop capabilities like the mentioned RPGs and Shooters, but also Racing and Strategy games have seen a a bump in releases.
This speaks for the longing of social interaction and the need to connect with others, even if it is purely virtual.
All percentages are in share of game releases. Pre-Covid Data encompasses 2015-2019, Post-Covid Data encompasses 2020-2024. Only genres with more than 1% market share are shown. Source: Kaggle.

Shifting the market

The huge boost in popularity didn't just impact what gamers like to play, but also what hardware they use to play it.
High End graphics Cards
Mid tier graphics Cards
Low End graphics Cards
The increase in graphics cards used to play video-games was astronomical and it's boom holds on to this day.
2018 shows a peak in low end graphics cards . Most likely this is the spillover of the crypto mining craze just the year before, but it also marks the peak of the otherwise stagnating low end market.
The ever growing category of mid tier graphics cards is still the most popular choice for gamers, growing rapidly.
Surprisingly, the otherwise fairly consistent high end graphics card market shows significant growth after the pandemic hit.
This goes to show that the impact of covid on the gaming market wasn't just a quick fluke, but permanently made people care more about their gaming experience.
20082010201220142016201820202022010,000,00020,000,00030,000,000
Variants like TIs, SUPERs and XTs were included in the respective series. All non GTX, RTX or RX cards were excluded from the data. Numbers are calculated based on the steam hardware survey. Source: Steam, SteamDB, jdegene.
201920202021202220232024050100150200250300350

It's all in the Stocks

At the start of the pandemic in early 2020, companies like Nvidia, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo experienced a sharp uptick in their stock prices. With lockdowns in place and people confined to their homes, the demand for gaming products soared. This rise was not only due to the surge in gaming itself but also due to the rapid adoption of online entertainment across the world. The pandemic acted as a catalyst, transforming the gaming industry into one of the few sectors that thrived amidst widespread economic downturns.
In particular, Nvidia saw a remarkable spike as demand for high-performance gaming hardware surged, bolstered by the boom in cryptocurrency mining, with Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies hitting new highs. The increased use of GPUs for mining also contributed to Nvidia’s growth, as it became a key player in the crypto revolution.
The Y-Axes of the individual graphs have been adjusted to better visualize each companies change in stock price. The percentual change is per 100%. Sources: Yahoo finance, Investing.com.