Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the video game industry

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on the video game industry. The video game industry has been impacted by the outbreak in various ways, most often due to concerns over travel to and from China or elsewhere or related to slowdowns in the manufacturing processes within China.

Part of a series on the
COVID-19 pandemic
Timeline
2019

2020

2021
Locations
  • By continent
  • By conveyance
International response
Medical response
Impact
  • Socio-economic
  • By industry
 COVID-19 Portal

Overview

In contrast to many other economic sectors that are drastically affected by the pandemic, the video game industry has been far more resilient to the pandemic. Most video game developers, publishers and operators have been able to maintain operations with employees working from home remotely to sustain game development and digital releases, though as movement control orders persisted, some productivity issues have arose.[1] Further, with many people globally at home and unable to work, online gaming has seen record numbers of players during the pandemic as a popular activity to counter physical distancing for society, a practice recommended by the World Health Organization[2] which helped boost revenues for many companies in the gaming industry.[3][4]

There have still been negative impacts on the industry, notably with major trade events like the E3 2020 cancelled or postponed which may have impacted relationships between the smaller developers and publishers. This has particularly impacted indie developers who typically use these events for face-to-face meetings with potential partners to gain funding and publishing support, and caused them to have to delay or cancel projects.[5] Further, many esport leagues had to alter plans for their games, transitioning from live events to remote play or cancellation altogether. Portions of the sector that relied on physical products, such as retail stores and peripheral makers, as well as those dependent on in-person activities such as quality assurance through playtesting, ratings evaluation, and marketing, also struggled with global stay-at-home orders.[6]

The origin of the pandemic in China is also expected to impact the supply chains for electronics for the year which may limit hardware availability once the pandemic begins to slow down. This however did not impact plans for Microsoft and Sony to release their next-generation consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 in Fall 2020.[7]

Cancelled or affected industry events

Many trade events and expositions for the industry have been cancelled or postponed due to bans against public gathers during the pandemic. Of note, the largest trade event E3 2020 was ultimately cancelled by March 2020 by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) after several weeks of doubt.[8] However, on March 11, 2020, the ESA affirmed that they cancelled the physical E3 show amid the fears of the outbreak as they are looking to arrange for virtual presentations from its exhibitors.[9] However, by April 2020, the ESA determined that the logistics of arranging a virtual event was too difficult due to disruptions from the pandemic, fully cancelling the show in 2020, but with plans in place to return in 2021. The ESA offered the E3 website to help partners to support product announcements in lieu of the E3 show.[10] Additional events have been arranged in lieu of E3, with Geoff Keighley having arranged a four-month Summer Game Fest with several game developers, publishers, and other industry leaders to provide announcements and game demos from May to August 2020 as a replacement for the E3 and other cancelled events.[11]

Other cancelled or postponed events include:

  • The Taipei Game Show, planned from February 6–9, 2020 was postponed until June 25–28, 2020,[12][13] but was canceled in March 2020 due to the escalation of the pandemic.[14]
  • The Mobile World Congress, to have been held in Barcelona, Spain in March 2020 was cancelled as several of the China-based vendors had to cancel plans.[15]
  • The annual Vancouver Retro Gaming Expo has been cancelled .
  • Several vendors withdrew or scaled the plans back to present at PAX East in Boston at the end of February 2020 including Sony Interactive Entertainment, Square Enix, Electronic Arts, Capcom, CD Projekt and PUBG Corporation.[16][17][18][19]
  • Similarly, several companies pulled out from the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco in March 2020, forcing the organizers to postpone the show until later in 2020.[20][21] However, the event organizers devised a scheme to run the GDC as a virtual conference following a similar schedule across the same set of days by using the streaming services with a subset of the planned events that are presented through the streaming media and was made available online a week later. This included the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival presentations.[22]
  • The 16th British Academy Games Awards, normally presented at a ceremony in London are moved to a live streamed event due to concerns over the pandemic.[23]
  • The physical 2020 Gamescom event, to be held in Cologne, Germany, was forced to cancel as Germany banned public events through August 2020 following the lifting of the initial lockdown, but organizers will move some portions of the event to be solely online. Also, the physical 2020 Gamescom Asia, to be held in Singapore, was postponed to 2021.[24][25][26]
  • The physical event of TennoCon 2020, which slated on July 11, 2020, was cancelled.[27]
  • Paris Games Week, planned in October 23–27, 2020, was cancelled.[28]
  • The physical Tokyo Game Show event from September 24–27, 2020 was cancelled though online events will be held in its place.[29]
  • EGX 2020, planned from September 17–20, 2020, was cancelled though online events will be held at September 12–20, 2020.[30]
  • COMPUTEX Taipei 2020, planned from June 2–6, 2020, was postponed to September 28–30, 2020,[31] but was canceled in June 2020.[32]
  • The 2020 BlizzCon event will not be held, typically in early November. Blizzard Entertainment will be looking for an online replacement but does not expect to have this until early 2021.[33]
  • Brasil Game Show 2020, which planned from October 8–12, 2020, was cancelled.[34]
  • Other game-related conventions, expositions and trade shows that were cancelled or postponed included:
    • South by Southwest planned in Austin, Texas in March,[35] The SXSW Gaming Awards were still awarded though an online announcement in March 2020.[36]
    • Emerald City Comic Con planned for Seattle, Washington in March,[37]
    • TwitchCon Europe planned for Amsterdam in May, and TwitchCon US planned for San Diego in September.[38][39]
    • The Minecraft Festival event (Minecon) planned in Orlando, Florida in September 2020.[40]
    • The 25th QuakeCon event, planned for Dallas, Texas in August.[41]
    • The San Diego Comic Con, planned in July 2020.[42]
    • The 17th annual Touhou Project dōjinshi convention (Reitaisai) planned in Tokyo, Japan, first planned on March 22, 2020 and later postponed till May 17. The 17th Reitaisai was cancelled on April 12,[43] five days following the initial announcement of a state of emergency made by the government.[44]
    • Comiket 98, another dōjinshi convention also held in Japan, planned on May 2–5, 2020.[45]
    • 2020 Gaming Community Expo scheduled for Orlando, FL in June. Event moved solely online as a charity marathon.
    • PAX West 2020, originally scheduled for September 4–7, 2020, and PAX Australia 2020, originally scheduled for October 9-11, 2020, collaborated with EGX to host PAX Online x EGX Digital, which was held September 12–20, 2020.[46]
    • The 2021 Japanese Amusement Expo (JAEPO) was cancelled on an October 1, 2020's announcement.[47]

Esports

Most esports events are based on online games, but are typically played in local arenas to reduce network latency between players as well as to provide an audience. The pandemic caused many of these events to either become cancelled or switch to a fully online format for the year:

  • ESL Pro League Season 11, a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament was originally going to be an offline event with the finals taking place at Denver, Colorado, United States. However, due to the pandemic, ESL announced that the both the regular season and the finals will be split into two regions: Europe and North America and that regular season and the finals will be played entirely online.[48]
  • The competitions for non-rhythm games of the ninth season of Konami Arcade Championships (KAC), which were to be held from February 22 and 24 at e-sports GINZA Studio, was postponed indefinitely. This did not affect the competitions within Konami's Bemani franchise, as they were already held earlier that month at the Japan Amusement Expo.[49] On December 16, Konami announced that the tenth season in 2021 will restrict participation to Japanese players only instead of worldwide as it has been traditionally done since 2012 (which include South Korea, Asia and United States), as a result of the travel restrictions set by the Japanese government at the time; in addition, the finals, due to held on March 2021, will be on the GINZA Studio, held closed doors and no audience.[50] On January 7, 2021, Konami extended the qualifying period for the 10th tournamdng to an currently unknown date.[51] On February 8, 2021, Konami announced the 9th tournament would be canceled altogether.[52]
  • Another arcade tournament held in Japan, 闘神祭2020 (Tōshinsai), a cross-arcade game tournament co-organised by NTT-esports and Taito, was cancelled.[53] The finals initially scheduled from May 16–17 and postponed to August 8–9.[54]
  • The Overwatch League, in its 2020 season and third overall, was planning to implement a more traditional home/away approach to regular league player, with teams travelling across the globe to various homestead events for matches. With the pandemic, numerous changes to the league's plans had to be implemented, including switching to online matches, reworking the teams' distributions in divisions as some teams were forced to suspend operations, cancelling certain mid-season events, and otherwise reducing the planned schedule of play.[55][56][57][58]
  • The League of Legends Rift Rivals and Mid-Season Invitational tournaments were cancelled, with the latter replaced with the 2020 Mid-Season Streamathon,[59][60] while 2020 World Championship would be played exclusively in Shanghai using the "isolation bubble" environment.[61] In addition, majority of regional leagues, including League of Legends Championship Series and the League of Legends European Championship were either played in arenas without audience or switched to online formats.[62][63]
  • The ongoing series of the 2020 Pokémon World Championships was cancelled by The Pokémon Company including its North American (scheduled for June 26–28) and Global (scheduled for August 14–16) events.[64]
  • The 2020 Nürburgring World Tour, a live event of the 2020 FIA-Certified Gran Turismo Championships season, was cancelled after the motorsport event it was supposed to coincide, the 2020 24 Hours Nürburgring, was postponed by the organizers to September.[65] As the online season had already began on March 17, the decision was made to change the stage that planned to end on April 18 an "exhibition stage", and to restart the season on April 25.[66] A teaser trailer for the restarted season indicated that no further live events would be held, having held only one live event in Sydney, Australia. [67] Consequently, the regional and world finals for the series were held as online-based events.[68]
  • The live Rocket League World Championship for its 9th season, planned for April 24, 2020 in Dallas was indefinitely postponed.[69]
  • The 2020 Fortnite World Cup was cancelled.[70]
  • The International 2020 tournament for Dota 2, set in Stockholm in August 2020, was postponed indefinitely.[71]
  • Evo 2020, set to be held in Las Vegas near the end of July, was cancelled. Online events were scheduled before the entire tournament was cancelled due to sexual abuse allegations against its co-founder.[72][73][74]
  • Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Southeast Asia Cup (MSC) 2020, set to be held in Philippines on June 12–14, 2020, was cancelled.[75]
  • Arena of Valor World Cup 2020, set to be held in Vietnam, was cancelled.[76]
  • Free Fire Champions Cup 2020, set to be held in Indonesia in April 2020, was cancelled.[77]
  • The Asia-Pacific Predator League 2020 was postponed to Spring 2021. All of the qualifying teams during the event will held the finale in 2021.[78]
  • The Teppen World Championship 2020 was held entirely online.[79] Offline tournaments meant to qualify players to the finals were cancelled due to the pandemic.[80]

On the other hand, while many traditional physical sports games, seasons, and playoffs were cancelled due to the pandemic, the organizing leagues turned to video game equivalents as alternative entertainment, using the professional athletes from their leagues within the games. Some examples of this included:

Television networks which normally would have shown the sporting events that were cancelled have turned to both these replacement sports programs as well as other esport tournaments as replacement programming during the pandemic.[82] On June 14, 2020, BBC reported that about 22 million sports viewers turned to virtual races when lockdown was put into place. Questions over the future of esports are rising with Formula 1 returning in July 2020.[85][86]

Hardware production
  • Nintendo Switch production in Vietnam had been scaled back due to reduced supply of components out of China due to production slowdown from the quarantines. As a result, supplies of the Switch were significantly reduced in Japan and with retailers fearing similar shortages in Europe and North America.[87] In its annual report issued in May 2020, Nintendo believed that production would resume normal levels within a few months.[88] Further, Nintendo of America closed its repair center as a preventative measure. The company's headquarters in Redmond, Washington and the flagship store in New York City were also closed.[89]
  • Valve announced that its production on the Valve Index virtual reality headset was reduced due to the impact of the pandemic and would have fewer shipments expected than planned by the release of Half-Life: Alyx.[90]
  • Konami delayed release of the TurboGrafx-16 Mini in March due to production chain issues in China due to the pandemic.[91]
  • Atari delayed the Atari VCS that was initially supposed to release in March 2020 due to the pandemic.[92]
  • Microsoft did not anticipate any delay in the planned release of the Xbox Series X console, according to Phil Spencer, as of April 2020, though did state that some games expected near launch may be delayed as a result.[93]

Sales

Generally, sales of video games have increased as a result of stay-at-home and lockdown orders from the pandemic, as people turn to video games as a pastime.[1] The NPD Group reported that video game sales in North America in March 2020 were up 34% from those in March 2019, video game hardware up by 63% - which includes more than twice the number of units of the Nintendo Switch console. Net spending across the first quarter of 2020 in the United States reached US$10.9 billion , up 9% in 2020 compared to 2019 according to NPD. Such an increase at this point, near the planned end of the eighth generation of video game consoles, is unusual and attributed to actions of the pandemic.[94][95] By July 2020, NPD Group that total sales of video game hardware and software within the United States in the first six months of 2020 reached US$6.6 billion , the highest since 2010.[96]

Some specific examples of game software and hardware sales affected by the pandemic include:

  • The 2012 game Plague Inc. by Ndemic Creations saw a large boost in sales as a result of the pandemic. The game temporarily became the top-paid app on several regional app stores, beating out the perennial bestseller Minecraft. Some analysts believed that those worried about the pandemic used the game to see that it could spread as a means to placate their fears.[97] While the game was based on scientific models of the spread of contagious diseases, Ndemic had to remind the players that the game was not meant to be taken as an accurate model for transmission and spread and referred those interested to the Centers for Disease Control and other national and international health organization websites.[98][99] Later, Ndemic added a new gameplay mode to Plague Inc, with the goal to try to stop an ongoing pandemic through various possible options by using the work that it developed in coordination with WHO and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network.[100] Further, Ndemic donated US$250,000 to the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the WHO COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund to help fight the pandemic and encouraged the players of the game to do the same.[101]
  • The 2018 digital adaption of Pandemic by Asmodee saw sales boosts.[97]
  • Both Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, major AAA titles released in March 2020, outperformed industry expectations, with Animal Crossing selling more in its opening week in the United Kingdom than all of the previous launches in the franchise combined for the same region.[102][94]
  • Ring Fit Adventure which involves physical activity by using special accessories saw high demand in China as a result of the quarantine as the residents sought something for physical activity, leading to shortages and price gouging in east Asia and nearby regions.[103] Similar shortages for the game expanded as quarantines and stay-at-home orders came to many Western locations during the month of March 2020.[104]
  • Coupled with lowered hardware production, the Nintendo Switch also became a high-selling commodity during the pandemic, as it provided entertainment options across all ages, particularly with the release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Nintendo worked to supply as many units as possible globally to most markets, but this led to some resellers developing means through bots to identify when Switch units were back in stock at various storefronts, purchasing as many units as possible at list price and then reselling these at a higher markup.[105] High sales of the Switch helped to offset low sales of other console hardware within the United States and buoy higher revenues for the sector.[95]
  • Fall 2020 rose interest in Innersloth’s 2018 social deduction video game for iOS, Android, and Windows devices, Among Us, after a Twitch streamer started playing it for the first time.
  • Minecraft Dungeons topped Animal Crossing on the North America eShop when they released their new DLC packs, Jungle Awakens and Creeping Winter. They also announced cross-platform features.

Hardware and software releases


Game publishers and developers have expressed concerns that further extensions of the movement control orders from the pandemic may incur additional delays. One major factor that may cause delays is the ability to capture voice acting without access to studios during physical distancing for society, even though some of members considering working from residence remotely to avoid troubling situations. Another factor may rise from any possible delays in the release of the upcoming console hardware for next-generation (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X) due late in 2020, as some publishers would only want to release milestone titles alongside these console releases.[1]

Nvidia's GeForce 30 series of graphics cards immediately sold out upon their release, due largely to a rise in consumer demand for computer hardware during the pandemic as well as a lack in proper security against "scalpers".[185]

Services

Because much of the world's population is quarantined due to the pandemic, video game playing and other Internet use has grown greatly. Steam, the main digital storefront for personal computer video games saw over 23 million concurrent players during March 2020, surpassing all previous records[186] while the streaming service, Twitch saw over three billion hours of content watched over the first quarter of 2020, a 20% increase from the previous year's.[187] Microsoft reported a substantial increase in users of its Xbox Game Pass service in the months of March and April 2020 bringing it to over 10 million subscribers.[188] GeForce Now capacity was temporarily exhausted in Europe before additional server capacity was added.[189]

The additional bandwidth from video games and other Internet services created concerns that critical bandwidth would not be available for medical and other key infrastructure elements necessary to mitigate the spread of SARS-CoV-2.[190] To help reduce demand during peak hours, the Akamai content delivery network for many video games[191] and major digital storefronts such as Xbox Live,[192] PlayStation Network[193][194] and Steam[195] capped download speeds and encouraged the users to download at off-peak hours.

During quarantine and lockdown Ubisoft announced an update coming to Just Dance 2020 to keep players active during this time of.[196] Anyone owning Just Dance 2020 could access a month of the Just Dance Unlimited service.[196] Ubisoft also announced in its official forum that the second event entitled "Power Gala", which was part of the second season "Feel the Power" in Just Dance 2020, had been postponed.[197] The developer explained that the company wants to protect its team due to the global pandemic of COVID-19 and that "although our team still works hard to make our servers work as smoothly as possible at home", this needed to be resolved by postponing the content.[197] Two tracks part of Just Dance Unlimited were free in order to make up for the delay.[198]

Retailers
  • The North American video game chain, GameStop and its Canadian subsidiary, EB Games came under criticism for its overall response to the pandemic. Notably, it received widespread criticism when, after numerous states and provinces issued "stay at home" or "shelter in place" orders requiring non-essential businesses to close up starting in March 2020, that it considered its stores an essential business, stating that they provided a "significant need for technology solutions". The chain later revised this decision, closing most locations and leaving only select stores open to provide drive-up delivery of online or by-phone orders to the customers.[199][200][201][202]
  • CeX closed all its corporate stores in the United Kingdom on March 23 and asked the franchises to do the same.[203]
  • Game X Change, a regional game retailer based in Arkansas, attracted criticism for keeping the retail locations open in areas with stay at home orders.[204]

Industry trade bodies
  • The Japanese game ratings body Computer Entertainment Rating Organization (CERO) was forced to close operations from early April through May 7, and upon reopening, implemented appropriate controls that reduced work hours, which is expected to delay some releases in Japan as they await a rating for retail release.[205][206]

Industry support of mitigation and relief efforts

With the need to stay inside one's home to avoid infection, many gamers flocked to online games as a substitute for social interactions they would otherwise miss. Animal Crossing: New Horizons saw particular and explosive popularity, with people around the world turning to the game's recreation of ordinary daily life activities, and social networking features, as a substitute for the normalcy disrupted by the pandemic.[220][221][222][223] Fall Guys and Among Us were particularly popular during this time, with the former being released during the pandemic and the latter receiving a surge of popularity after being released in 2018.[224][225][226][227] Some non-online games were also thematically compared to the pandemic, such as The Longing.[228]

Notable deaths

References
  1. Schreier, Jason (April 21, 2020). "Gaming Sales Are Up, but Production Is Down". The New York Times. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  2. Snider, Mike (March 28, 2020). "WHO says play video games as healthy social pastime during coronavirus pandemic". USA Today. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  3. Romero, Nick (March 19, 2020). "Game (still) on: How coronavirus is impacting the gaming industry". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  4. Howley, Daniel (March 18, 2020). "The world is turning to video games amid coronavirus outbreak". Yahoo!. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  5. Garnett, Ryland H. (April 8, 2020). "What does a year without events mean for indies?". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  6. Dring, Christopher (April 9, 2020). "The games industry must protect its vulnerable businesses". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  7. Powell, Steffan (March 18, 2020). "Animal Crossing, Warzone and the coronavirus impact". BBC. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  8. Spangler, Todd (March 4, 2020). "E3 Organizers 'Actively Assessing' Coronavirus Outbreak, Still Planning to Hold June Event in L.A." Variety. Retrieved March 4, 2020.
  9. Spangler, Todd (March 11, 2020). "E3 2020 Canceled After 'Overwhelming Concerns' About Coronavirus". Variety. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  10. Chalk, Andy (April 7, 2020). "E3 2021 dates revealed, but the 2020 'online experience' isn't going to happen". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  11. Spangler, Todd (May 1, 2020). "Summer Game Fest 2020 Steps in to Fill E3 Void for Video-Game Biz". Variety. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  12. Chalk, Andy (February 1, 2020). "Taipei Game Show postponed over coronavirus emergency". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  13. Lewis, Mercedez (February 19, 2020). "Taipei Game Show 2020 Confirms Its New Summer Dates". Siliconera. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  14. Romano, Sal (March 25, 2020). "Taipei Game Show 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus escalation". Gematsu. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  15. Warren, Tom (12 February 2020). "The world's biggest phone show has been canceled due to coronavirus concerns". The Verge. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  16. Cox, Kate (February 21, 2020). "PlayStation cites coronavirus, backs out of multiple major gaming expos". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  17. McWhertor, Michael (February 21, 2020). "Final Fantasy 14 team cancels PAX plans over coronavirus concerns". Polygon. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  18. Van Allen, Eric (February 24, 2020). "EA Backs Out of GDC 2020 Over Coronavirus, Says It Will Limit Attendance to Other Events". USGamer. Retrieved February 24, 2020.
  19. Prescott, Shaun (February 25, 2020). "PAX East loses CD Projekt Red and PUBG Corp amid coronavirus fears". PC Gamer. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
  20. Cox, Kate (February 28, 2020). "GDC running out of time to cancel as Amazon, Blizzard join no-show list". Ars Technica. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  21. Grubb, Jeff (February 28, 2020). "GDC 'postponed' as multiple participants pull out over coronavirus fears". Venture Beat. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  22. "Game Developers Conference 2020 announces virtual awards and talk schedule". Gamasutra. March 10, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  23. Raindran, Manori (12 March 2020). "BAFTAs to Live Stream Game Awards Amid Coronavirus Fears". Variety. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  24. Sinclair, Brendan (April 15, 2020). "Gamescom hit by German ban on events". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  25. Handrahan, Matthew (May 18, 2020). "Gamescom: "We can seize the opportunity to prove how digital events can work"". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  26. team, BOTS (June 10, 2020). "#TECH: Gamescom asia postponed to 2021 amid Covid-19". Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  27. "TENNOCON GOES FULLY DIGITAL". Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  28. Nunneley, Stephany (May 7, 2020). "Paris Games Week 2020 has been canceled". VG247. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  29. Plunkett, Luke (May 7, 2020). "The 2020 Tokyo Game Show Has Been Cancelled". Kotaku. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  30. Hollis, Daniel (June 30, 2020). "EGX 2020 has been cancelled, digital event to take its place". Retrieved July 4, 2020.
  31. Smith, Ryan (March 24, 2020). "Computex 2020 Moved to September In Response to Coronavirus Pandemic". AnandTech. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  32. "Computex 2020 cancelled amid concerns over COVID-19". June 12, 2020. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
  33. Romano, Sal (May 26, 2020). "BlizzCon 2020 cancelled due to coronavirus concerns". Gematsu. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  34. Belattini, Por Rafael (June 19, 2020). "Brasil Game Show 2020 é cancelada por conta pandemia do coronavírus" (in Portuguese). Retrieved June 20, 2020.
  35. "SXSW 2020 Has Been Cancelled Following Coronavirus Fears". 2020-03-06. Retrieved 2020-03-06.
  36. "Announcing the 2020 SXSW Gaming Awards Winners". SXSW. March 24, 2020. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  37. Oxley, Dyer (March 6, 2020). "Emerald City Comic Con 2020 has been postponed". KUOW. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  38. Hitt, Kevin (March 6, 2020). "Twitch Cancels TwitchCon Amsterdam Event Amid Coronavirus Concerns". The Esports Observor. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  39. Peters, Jay (10 June 2020). "TwitchCon San Diego has been canceled". theverge.com. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
  40. DeAngelis, Marc (March 5, 2020). "Minecraft Festival is postponed due to coronavirus fears". Engadget. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  41. McAloon, Alissa (March 31, 2020). "QuakeCon 25 called off over COVID-19 concerns". Gamasutra. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  42. Polo, Susano (April 17, 2020). "San Diego Comic-Con 2020 canceled due to coronavirus concerns". Polygon. Retrieved April 17, 2020.
  43. "令和二年（第十七回）博麗神社例大祭、開催「中止」のお知らせ" (in Japanese). 博麗神社社務所. 2020-04-12. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  44. "＜新型コロナ＞きょう緊急事態宣言 首相「７都府県 １カ月程度」" (in Japanese). Tokyo Web. 2020-04-07. Archived from the original on 2020-04-09. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  45. Harding, Daryl. "Comiket 98 Has Been Canceled to Limit the Spread of Coronavirus". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  46. "PAX West 2020 canceled, goes digital with PAX Online this Fall". Shacknews. Retrieved 2020-07-04.
  47. "JAEPO 2021　新型コロナウイルス感染拡大防止のため 幕張メッセでの開催を中". Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  48. "Season 11 to be played online, finals moved from Denver to studio location". ESL Pro League. 2020-03-11. Retrieved 2020-03-28.
  49. "The 9th KONAMI Arcade Championship決勝ラウンド 決勝大会の延期について" (in Japanese). Konami. 2020-02-18. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  50. "The 10th KONAMI ARCADE CHAMPIONSHIP (KAC)". Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  51. https://p.eagate.573.jp/game/kac/kac10th/news/210107.html
  52. https://p.eagate.573.jp/game/kac/kac10th/news/210107.html
  53. "『闘神祭2020～World Championship of ARCADE～』 開催中止のお知らせ" (in Japanese). Toushinsai. 2020-06-09. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  54. "闘神祭2020 開催概要" (in Japanese). Toushinsai. 2020-02-18. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  55. "Overwatch League postpones first weekend of online matches". ESPN.com. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  56. "How coronavirus is affecting esports and gaming events". ESPN.com. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  57. "Overwatch League teams face a reset after pandemic spoils its grand plans". Launcher (Washington Post). 27 March 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  58. "Multiple Overwatch League matches canceled on March 28 and 29". Dot eSports. 27 March 2020. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  59. Matthiesen, Tom (10 March 2020). "League of Legends: Riot Games postpones Mid-Season Invitational to July, cancels all Rift Rivals events due to Coronavirus". InvenGlobal. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  60. Stavropoulos, Andreas (23 April 2020). "Riot officially cancels 2020 Mid-Season Invitational". Dot Esports. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  61. Rand, Emily; Wolf, Jacob (1 September 2020). "Sources: Vietnamese teams won't attend League of Legends World Championship". ESPN. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  62. Seok, Joonkyu; Lunardi, Lara (29 January 2020). "League of Legends: 2020 LCK Spring Split will begin without audiences at LoL Park due to risk of Coronavirus". InvenGlobal. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  63. Rand, Emily (17 March 2020). "LCS and LEC to return this weekend in online format". ESPN.com. Retrieved 22 September 2020.
  64. "Pokemon Cancels World Championships, Other Major Events Due to Coronavirus". Comicbook.com. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  65. "Nürburgring 24 Hours race weekend postponed to September". TouringCarTimes. March 17, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  66. Evans, Andrew (March 19, 2020). "GT Sport World Tour Nurburgring Cancelled, FIA Season Postponed to April". GTPlanet. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  67. Evans, Andrew (April 24, 2020). "No Live Events Planned for 2020 FIA Gran Turismo Championship". GTPlanet. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
  68. "Gran Turismo FIA Championship 2020 World Final Takes Place December 5/6". GTPlanet. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  69. Makedonski, Brett (March 5, 2020). "Rocket League cancels its World Championship because of COVID-19 concerns". Destructoid. Retrieved March 5, 2020.
  70. Webster, Andrew (April 30, 2020). "There won't be a Fortnite World Cup in 2020". The Verge. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  71. Webster, Andrew; Statt, Nick (April 30, 2020). "Valve indefinitely delays Dota 2's The International 2020". The Verge. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  72. Carpenter, Nicole (May 1, 2020). "Evo 2020 canceled due to coronavirus pandemic, online event coming". Polygon. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  73. O'Conner, James (May 13, 2020). "EVO Online 2020 Announced, And Smash Bros. Has Been Cut". GameSpot. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  74. Machkovech, Sam (July 2, 2020). "EVO 2020 game tourney canceled, co-founder fired [Updated]". Ars Technica. Retrieved July 2, 2020.
  75. Pratama, Redzi Arya (May 11, 2020). "MSC 2020 RESMI DIBATALKAN" (in Indonesian). Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  76. Ahmed, Wasif (April 30, 2020). "Arena of Valor World Cup 2020 canceled due to COVID-19". Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  77. Negreira, Camila (April 30, 2020). "Free Fire Champions Cup 2020 officially canceled by Garena". Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  78. "2020 PREDATOR LEAGUE". Retrieved June 9, 2020.
  79. "Teppen World Championship 2020 | Teppen -Official Site-". teppenthegame.com. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  80. "TEPPEN HEADLINE　#3". PlayTEPPEN ASIA. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  81. Eubanks, Michael (28 March 2020). "What drivers said after IndyCar's iRacing opener at Watkins Glen". NBC Sports. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  82. Morris, Chris (April 9, 2020). "From NBA2K to eNASCAR, are e-sports the new, well, sports?". Fortune. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  83. Good, Owen (April 10, 2020). "Major League Baseball starts a new league, this time in MLB The Show". Polygon. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  84. "Pro Bowl goes virtual, as innovative game will play out on Madden NFL 21 this season". ESPN. November 17, 2020. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  85. "F1 and other esports: decoding the impact of virtual races during lockdown". BBC. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  86. "F1's racing restart – How will events differ and 14 other key questions answered". Formula 1. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  87. Mochizuki, Takashi (February 17, 2020). "Nintendo Is Likely to Suffer Global Switch Shortages From Virus". Bloomberg LP. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  88. Harris, Olivia (May 7, 2020). "Nintendo Switch Production Impact Should Be Over By Summer, Nintendo Says". GameSpot. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  89. Good, Owen S. (March 25, 2020). "Take care of your Nintendo switch — Nintendo's repair shops are closed due to COVID-19". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  90. Nunneley, Stephany (February 21, 2020). "Coronavirus has affected the production schedule for Valve Index, fewer units to be made available". VG247. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  91. Yin-Poole, Wesley (March 6, 2020). "Konami delays PC Engine Core Grafx mini over coronavirus". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  92. "Atari VCS console delayed, report blames Coronavirus outbreak". Blasting News. 2020-02-05. Retrieved 2020-03-15.
  93. Pei, Annie (April 30, 2020). "New Xbox on schedule but game production may be slowed by coronavirus, Microsoft exec says". CNBC. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  94. Grubb, Jeff (April 21, 2020). "March 2020 NPD: Animal Crossing powers March to blockbuster game sales". Venture Beat. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  95. Edwards III, John J. (May 15, 2020). "Video Games Set a Record for Quarterly Sales". Bloomberg News. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  96. Gartenberg, Chaim (July 17, 2020). "US video game spending hit a 10-year high in June". The Verge. Retrieved July 17, 2020.
  97. Noack, Rick; Pitrelli, Stefano (February 16, 2020). "Virus games are going viral as the coronavirus spreads". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  98. "Killer plague game tops charts amid coronavirus". BBC. 23 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  99. Duffy, Clare (January 26, 2020). "Video game company urges players to avoid Plague Inc. game for information on coronavirus". CNN. Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  100. Tolito, Stephan (April 8, 2020). "When a Gaming Fantasy Is Eerily Close to Reality". The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  101. Orland, Kyle (March 25, 2020). "Plague Inc. rolling out new mode where you fight to contain the outbreak". Ars Technica. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  102. Huang, Eustance (3 April 2020). "Sales of video games soar as the coronavirus leaves millions trapped in their homes". CNBC. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  103. Olsen, Matthew (February 21, 2020). "Coronavirus Outbreak Has Led to a Demand Surge and Shortages of Ring Fit Adventure". USGamer. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  104. Sarkar, Samit (March 13, 2020). "Ring Fit Adventure is sold out everywhere, Nintendo confirms". Polygon. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  105. Cox, Joseph (April 17, 2020). "Resellers Using Checkout Bots Are Driving the Nintendo Switch Shortage". Vice. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  106. Lada, Jenni (April 27, 2020). "Evercade Debut Delayed by COVID-19". Siliconera. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  107. "GDC State of the Industry: WFH Edition survey reveals COVID-19's impact on devs". Gamasutra. July 16, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  108. Purslow, Matt (March 31, 2020). "The Outer Worlds Will Release On Switch This June". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  109. Vasile, Cosmin (2 April 2020). "Someday You'll Return Gets Delayed Due to Coronavirus". Softpedia. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  110. Chalk, Andy (April 9, 2020). "The launch of horror game Hellpoint has been delayed due to the coronavirus". Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  111. "Hellpoint launches July 30". Gematsu. July 2, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  112. Beckhelling, Imogen (April 1, 2020). "Minecraft Dungeons is coming out a little later than planned due to the pandemic". Rock Paper Shotgun. Gamer Network. Retrieved May 29, 2020.
  113. Romano, Sal (April 21, 2020). "Trackmania delayed to July 1, gameplay trailer". Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  114. McWhertor, Michael (April 2, 2020). "Sony delays The Last of Us Part 2 and Iron Man VR 'until further notice'". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved April 23, 2020.
  115. "Iron Man VR For PS4 Gets New Release Date". GameSpot. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  116. Lada, Jenni (April 30, 2020). "The Wonderful 101 Remastered Physical Copies Delayed by COVID-19". Siliconera. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  117. Romano, Sal (May 1, 2020). "The Wonderful 101: Remastered physical edition delayed to June 30 in North America, July 3 in Europe". Gematsu.
  118. Romano, Sal (April 24, 2020). "Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris delayed to July 9 in Japan, July 10 in the west". Gematsu. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  119. Sherman, Jennifer (May 29, 2020). "'Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Infinite Combate' Game Delayed to Summer in West". Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  120. Romano, Sal (June 18, 2020). "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Infinite Combate launches August 7 in Europe, August 11 in North America". Retrieved June 18, 2020.
  121. Romano, Sal (May 7, 2020). "Ninjala delayed to June 24". Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  122. Sato, Sato (May 20, 2020). "Fairy Tail Game Delayed in Japan From June 25 to July 30, 2020". Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  123. Romano, Sal (May 21, 2020). "Fairy Tail game delayed to July 30 in Europe and Japan, July 31 in North America". Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  124. Romano, Sal (May 21, 2020). "E School Life for PS4, Switch delayed to July 30 in Japan". Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  125. Croft, Liam (13 March 2020). "Fast & Furious Crossroads May 2020 Release in Doubt After Fast 9 Delay". Push Square. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  126. Purslow, Matt (May 27, 2020). "Fast & Furious Crossroads Delayed". IGN. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  127. Romano, Sal (May 21, 2020). "Kiss Trilogy for PS4 delayed to August 27 in Japan". Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  128. Romano, Sal (May 18, 2020). "Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road delayed". Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  129. Romano, Sal (June 16, 2020). "Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road launches June 22". Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  130. Romano, Sal (May 26, 2020). "No Straight Roads delayed to later in the summer". Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  131. Romano, Sal (June 29, 2020). "No Straight Roads launches August 25, PC demo now available". Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  132. Romano, Sal (June 10, 2020). "Ary and the Secret of Seasons delayed to September". Retrieved June 11, 2020.
  133. Hashimoto, Kazuma (April 21, 2020). "Death Stranding PC Port Delayed to July 14, 2020". Siliconera. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  134. Minotti, Mike (March 31, 2020). "Wasteland 3 delayed to August 28". VentureBeat. Retrieved April 1, 2020.
  135. Hulst, Hermen (April 27, 2020). "Release Date Updates For The Last of Us Part II, Ghost of Tsushima". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  136. Goldfarb, Andrew (March 5, 2020). "Ghost of Tsushima Out June 26: Collector's & Digital Deluxe Editions Detailed". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  137. Romano, Sal (April 28, 2020). "Monster Hunter World: Iceborne expansion Title Update 4 delayed". Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  138. Romano, Sal (June 30, 2020). "Monster Hunter World: Iceborne expansion Title Update 4 launches July 9". Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  139. Romano, Sal (May 6, 2020). "Little Witch Academia: VR Broom Racing delayed to late 2020 for Oculus Quest, early 2021 for PlayStation VR, Oculus Rift, and SteamVR". Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  140. Romano, Sal (May 14, 2020). "Rock of Ages III: Make & Break delayed to July 21". Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  141. Romano, Sal (May 11, 2020). "Star Wars Episode I: Racer for PS4 and Switch delayed". Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  142. Romano, Sal (June 16, 2020). "Star Wars Episode I: Racer for PS4 and Switch launches June 23". Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  143. Romano, Sal (June 3, 2020). "PHOGS! delayed to later in 2020". Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  144. Romano, Sal (November 5, 2020). "PHOGS! launches December 3". Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  145. Parlock, Joe (June 11, 2020). "The Dark Pictures: Little Hope has been delayed". Retrieved June 12, 2020.
  146. "The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope launches October 30". Gematsu. Retrieved 2020-07-08.
  147. Chalk, Andy (July 7, 2020). "Mafia: Definitive Edition has been delayed". pcgamer. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  148. Su, Jake (August 20, 2020). "Stronghold: Warlords delay sees new January release date". PC Invasion. Retrieved September 6, 2020.
  149. Romano, Sal (June 15, 2020). "Blue Fire adds PS4, Xbox One, and PC versions, delayed to Q1 2021". Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  150. Livingstom, Christopher (May 20, 2020). "Kerbal Space Program 2 now aiming for launch in late 2021". Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  151. Romano, Sal (May 14, 2020). "Guilty Gear: Strive delayed to early 2021". Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  152. Agossah, Iyane (October 11, 2020). "Guilty Gear Strive Release Date Set For April 9 On PS5, PS4, PC Via Steam". DualShockers. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  153. Andriessen, CJ (May 8, 2020). "Warframe's Duviri Paradox update will not launch in 2020". Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  154. Warren, Tom (August 11, 2020). "Microsoft delays Halo Infinite to 2021". Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  155. Dedmon, Tanner (August 18, 2020). "Arkane's Deathloop Delayed to 2021".
  156. Mercante, Alyssa (November 11, 2020). "Deathloop release date reportedly set for May 2021". GamesRadar+. Retrieved November 12, 2020.
  157. O'Conner, James (August 18, 2020). "The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe Announces Delay In The Most Stanley Parable Way Possible". GameSpot. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
  158. Crows Crows Crows [@crowsx3] (2020-08-18). "Your Spidey Sense is tingling... some news on The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe" (Tweet). Retrieved 2020-08-18 – via Twitter.
  159. "Sky: Children Of Light On Switch Is The Latest Game Delayed By COVID-19". GameSpot. August 26, 2020.
  160. O'Connor, James (September 9, 2020). "No More Heroes 3 Delayed Into 2021". GameSpot. Retrieved September 10, 2020.
  161. "Kena: Bridge of Spirits Delayed to Q1 2021". IGN. September 11, 2020. Retrieved September 12, 2020.
  162. Frech, Ricky (October 8, 2020). "Outriders Gets a February 2, 2021 Release Date". DualShockers. Retrieved October 8, 2020.
  163. Romano, Sal (November 6, 2020). "The Medium delayed to January 28, 2021". Retrieved November 7, 2020.
  164. Ivan, Tom (September 16, 2020). "Harvest Moon: One World for Nintendo Switch has been delayed to March 2021". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  165. Romano, Sal (October 6, 2020). "The Idolmaster: Starlit Season delayed to 2021 in Japan, full idol lineup announced". Gematsu. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
  166. Nelva, Giuseppe (October 15, 2020). "Digimon Survive Officially Delayed to 2021". Twinfinite. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
  167. Romano, Sal (April 21, 2020). "Seven Knights: Time Wanderer delayed". Gematsu. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  168. Romano, Sal (October 21, 2020). "Seven Knights: Time Wanderer launches November 5". Gematsu. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  169. Romano, Sal (April 21, 2020). "Monstrum for PS4, Xbox One, and Switch launches May 22".
  170. Matawaran, Aldwin (October 16, 2020). "Monstrum: Physical Edition Releases October 23". The Nerd Stash. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  171. Lada, Jenni (April 20, 2020). "The Dragon Marked for Death 3.0.0 Switch Update Won't Launch on April 21, 2020". Siliconera. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  172. Lada, Jenni (April 24, 2020). "The Dragon Marked for Death Bandit and Oracle Have Arrived on the Switch". Siliconera. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
  173. Romano, Sal (November 19, 2020). "CrossfireX delayed to 2021". Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  174. Romano, Sal (May 19, 2020). "Everyday Today's Menu for the Emiya Family delayed in Japan". Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  175. Romano, Sal (June 25, 2020). "Tales of Arise delayed past 2020". Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  176. Romano, Sal (April 10, 2020). "Yumeutsutsu Re:Master and Re:After launch April 23 in the west for Switch and PC, later for PS4 and PS Vita".
  177. T.M. Kim, Matt (October 29, 2020). "Far Cry 6 Delayed Until After March 2021". IGN. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  178. Gilliam, Ryan (October 29, 2020). "Far Cry 6 and Rainbow Six Quarantine delayed into Ubisoft's 2021 fiscal year". Polygon. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
  179. Ivan, Tom (November 26, 2020). "Cuphead's Delicious Last Course DLC has been delayed again". VGC. Retrieved November 29, 2020.
  180. Blumenthal, Eli (March 19, 2020). "Doom Eternal arrives early at GameStop to avoid coronavirus crowds". CNET. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
  181. Grixti, Shannon (March 25, 2020). "AFL Evolution 2 Has A New Release Date". Press Start. Southern Cross Austereo. Retrieved March 26, 2020.
  182. England, Rachel (March 30, 2020). "Square Enix will ship 'Final Fantasy VII Remake' early to some countries". Engadget. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  183. Romano, Sal (June 12, 2020). "Deliver Us The Moon for Switch cancelled". Retrieved June 13, 2020.
  184. "MINECRAFT EARTH COMING TO AN END". January 5, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  185. D'Anastasio, Cecilia. "Desperate Gamers Camp Out in the Pandemic for $700 GPUs". Wired.
  186. Robinson, Andy (March 30, 2020). "Steam has now broken its active player record". Video Games Chronicle. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
  187. Gurwin, Gabe (April 3, 2020). "Twitch Has Record-Setting Quarter Amid Coronavirus Lockdown". GameSpot. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  188. Stewart, Keith (April 30, 2020). "Xbox Game Pass subscriptions hit 10 million". The Guardian. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  189. Broekhuijsen, Niels. "Nvidia GeForce Now Membership Selling Out Amid Coronavirus Outbreak". Tom's Hardware. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  190. Kang, Cecilia; Alba, Davey; Satariano, Adam (March 26, 2020). "Surging Traffic Is Slowing Down Our Internet". The New York Times. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  191. Cimpanu, Catalin (March 24, 2020). "Akamai to slow down video game downloads during COVID-19 outbreak". ZDNet. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  192. Warren, Tom (29 March 2020). "Microsoft tweaks Xbox and Teams services during 775 percent surge in cloud demand". The Verge. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  193. Kastrenakes, Jacob (24 March 2020). "Sony will slow down PlayStation downloads in Europe, but says multiplayer will remain "robust"". The Verge. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  194. Farokhmanesh, Megan (27 March 2020). "Sony is now slowing down PlayStation downloads in the US". The Verge. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  195. McWhertor, Michael (March 30, 2020). "Steam is changing how game updates work to manage bandwidth during record usage". Polygon. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  196. "Ubisoft is giving away a free month of Just Dance Unlimited due to Covid-19". www.hardwarezone.com.sg. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  197. "Season 2 Power Gala - Update | Forums". forums.ubisoft.com. Retrieved 2020-08-27.
  198. "Season 2 Free songs".
  199. Lyles, Taylor (2020-03-20). "GameStop to close all California stores indefinitely". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  200. Liao, Shannon. "GameStop says it is an essential business. Employees are outraged". CNN. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  201. Orland, Kyle (2020-03-22). "GameStop shuts down regular operations amid coronavirus closures". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  202. "EB Games to close Saturday, as Ford fumes while dozens line up for launch, despite pandemic". Toronto Star. 2020-03-20. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
  203. "UK Game Retailer CeX to Temporarily Close Stores Amid Rising Employee Concerns - IGN". Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  204. "Game X Change remains open despite COVID-19, sends workers debunked health advice". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  205. O'Conner, James (April 7, 2020). "Japanese Game Rating Body CERO Is Closed For The Rest Of April". GameSpot. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  206. McAloon, Alissa (May 4, 2020). "Japan's CERO game ratings board is reopening this week". Gamasutra. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
  207. Phillips, Tom (March 25, 2020). "Nintendo donates 9500 face masks to emergency services". Eurogamer. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  208. Stephen, Bijan (March 26, 2020). "Twitch's Stream Aid 2020 plans to raise money for COVID-19 relief this weekend with a bunch of celebs". The Verge. Vox Media. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  209. Takahashi, Dean (March 28, 2020). "WHO and game companies launch #PlayApartTogether to promote physical distancing". VentureBeat. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  210. Takahashi, Dean (April 5, 2020). "40 more game companies join WHO #PlayApartTogether coronavirus awareness campaign". Venture Beat. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  211. Bonifacic, Igor (March 27, 2020). "Games Done Quick will host a charity stream for COVID-19 relief". Engadget. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  212. Carpenter, Nicole (April 20, 2020). "Games Done Quick raises $400K for coronavirus relief fund". Polygon. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  213. "Humble is fighting corona with a bundle of 45 games for $30 (and a lot of them are awesome)". Destructoid. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  214. McAloon, Alissa (April 27, 2020). "Humble's Conquer COVID-19 bundle raises $6.5 million for pandemic relief". Gamasutra. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  215. O'Conner, Alice (April 7, 2020). "'Stay Home, Save Lives' message spreads to video games in new government campaign". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved April 7, 2020.
  216. Maher, Cian (April 29, 2020). "Ex-Nintendo boss Reggie Fils-Aimé announces new podcast for charity". VG247. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  217. https://twitter.com/IdeaFactoryIntl/status/1301998412368408577
  218. Maher, Cian (August 3, 2020). "Rockstar donates 5% of revenue from in-game purchases to charity". VG247. videogaming247 Ltd. Archived from the original on August 3, 2020. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  219. Feltham, Jamie (April 26, 2020). "Former Daydream-Exclusive Fire Escape Heads To PC VR Next Week". UploadVR. UVR Media LLC. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  220. "Why games like Animal Crossing are the new social media of the coronavirus era". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  221. Zhu, Lin. "The psychology behind video games during COVID-19 pandemic: A case study of Animal Crossing: New Horizons". Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies. n/a (n/a). doi:10.1002/hbe2.221. ISSN 2578-1863.
  222. "Gamers seeking social oasis turn 'Animal Crossing' into global hit". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  223. "CoD and Animal Crossing among best video games for socialising". Evening Standard. 2020-05-26. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  224. Grayson, Nathan (2020-09-08). "Among Us' Improbable Rise To The Top Of Twitch". Kotaku Australia. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  225. Grimm, Peter (2020-09-07). "Among Us Hits Impressive Concurrent Player Milestone". Game Rant. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  226. Baird, Scott (2020-09-07). "Fall Guys Is Number One On Steam's Bestselling List For Fifth Week In A Row". TheGamer. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  227. Matthews, Emma (2020-08-25). "Why Among Us is the best game to watch on Twitch right now". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  228. Weber, Rachel (2020-04-03). "The Longing is the indie game that sums up self-solation perfectly". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved 2020-05-01.
  229. Lee, Timothy (April 13, 2020). "John Conway, inventor of the Game of Life, has died of COVID-19". Ars Technica. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  230. Chalk, Andy (April 13, 2020). "Rick May, voice of the Soldier in Team Fortress 2, has died". PC Gamer. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.