Nov 30 (newsonjapan.com) - The COVID-19 pandemic has turned our lives upside down. Every country had come up with their own restrictions when the pandemic started and things haven’t gone back to normal just yet.
In Japan, there were 139.491 COVID-19 cases as of November 27th and like the rest of the world, Japanese citizens are still getting used to the “new normal.†Let’s take a couple of minutes to look at how the current situation impacted their playing habits.
Gamers now spend more time playing
With the coronavirus taking more and more lives, we’re all supposed to do our best to prevent it from spreading. Most importantly, this includes staying at home rather than dining out and meeting with our friends for coffee. Being forced to stay at home, gamers from across the world now spend even more time playing video games. That’s exactly what’s going on in Japan. A recent survey has shown that 75 percent of gaming enthusiasts in Japan have played more games since March. It’s just that doing their best to follow social distancing guidelines and gaming is one of the things they can do at home. The good news is that there’s so much opportunity for gamers at the moment. This is especially the case now when there’s a new PlayStation 5 console on the market.
More people are getting into gaming
This is another anticipated result of the pandemic. With everyone being advised to stay at home, people in Japan are looking for new hobbies they can start. Ideally, they want to take on a hobby they can enjoy at home. Gaming is an obvious solution as all you need is a console or a PC. With that said, it doesn’t come as a surprise that more and more Japanese are getting into gaming. Luckily, we live in an age when you don’t need to get a physical copy of the game you want to play. As long as you’re connected to the internet, you can buy the game online and download it on your console or PC. This is exactly what people in Japan are doing. Additionally, families are looking for multiplayer games online they can enjoy with their loved ones.
More people like the prospect of iGaming
As you probably already know, Pachinko remains king when it comes to gambling in Japan. Just in 2018, this pinball-like game has netted $190 billion. A good indicator of how popular Pachinko is in Japan is the fact that people still waited in lines to play it, even when the pandemic started. This only showed just how much room there is in the Japanese online gambling market. If people are queuing to play it during the pandemic, there’s no doubt they’d be keen on playing it online. Therefore, as a result of the pandemic, we might just see the iGaming in Japan take the next step. There’s no doubt regular players and high rollers would love this, and they’d start playing even more. The COVID-19 pandemic will lead to some huge changes in the market, and this might be one of them.
Japanese gamers started playing new games
As you can imagine, trends in the gaming world are moving at a rapid pace. Still, there are some releases that have been on top of all lists for quite some time. Riot Games’ Valorant is one of the newest names to conquer the Japanese market, and it might have something to do with the pandemic. Gamers who are stuck at home are looking for new games to try out and Valorant seems to be exactly what they’re looking for. It’s a free-to-play game anyone can give a go, making it a perfect game to test during the pandemic. Fast-forward to the end of 2020 and Valorant has boasted a PC player share of 43.1 percent in Japan. While there’s a chance the game would’ve performed similarly if there was no pandemic, it did have a slight impact on its popularity.
Hanging out online became a thing
We’ve all felt how bad it is being separated from your loved ones due to social distancing guidelines. For some, this has led to escapism and playing games alone. However, some people in Japan have used this opportunity to get into online gaming. They saw it as the only way to spend time with their friends and it looks like it indeed is effective. More Japanese players now hold long gaming sessions online, as it’s the only way for them to stay connected with their friends. Luckily, the virus cannot be spread online and there’s no limit to how long they can play. It looks like this trend will continue even once the COVID-19 situation eases and online gaming will grow even more.
The bottom line
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all industries in the world. The gaming industry didn’t suffer a major hit and the number of online players continues to increase. Veteran gamers and those who are new to PC and console gaming will have plenty of time to discover new digital worlds until the COVID-19 pandemic situation changes. Until that happens, it’s worth keeping an eye on what’s going on with gaming in Japan.
