Esports have never had it so good. Although competitive video gaming hasn’t proven entirely invulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic, it isn’t doing so bad out of it either. With mainstream sports around the world on hold, people are increasingly turning to gaming to fill the empty hours of lockdown and isolation.
The playing of video games is up – Verizon reported that US domestic peak-hour usage was up 75% in the first week of quarantine – but tellingly gaming as a spectator sport is also through the roof. Twitch, one the world’s biggest streaming platforms for gamers, is estimated to have grown its audience by up to a third in March alone. “With more stay-at-home mandates being issued around the world and the entertainment industry finding new ways to migrate their offerings to livestreaming platforms,
At a time when people are locked up inside their houses to help limit the spread of COVID-19, online gaming in India has seen a spike, with gaming companies witnessing a surge in user engagement as people are increasingly turning to video games.
WinZO, a vernacular social gaming platform, saw a 40% surge in T1 traffic over the last week. Games played and the time spent on the app increased almost threefold, recording an all-time high.Esports has been far from sports' biggest ally during its burgeoning growth across the last few years. An ageing audience has left some major .