Nielsen: Gaming And Twitch Engagement Has Risen Dramatically During COVID-19 Pandemic

My.Games said that engagement for its games went up over the past few months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the Nielsen Company is confirming that trend, not just for one company's games, but across the gaming industry as a whole.

In a report issued today, Nielsen -- which owns SuperData, whose employees probably contributed to the report -- said that "82% of global consumers played video games and watched video game content" during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Since March 23, the number of people playing games has increased by 46% in the U.S., 41% in France, 28% in the U.K., and 23% in Germany.

Meanwhile, Twitch engagement in the U.S. rose from 13 million hours daily to 31 million hours from Jan. 1 to March 28. On that last day, one-third of the hours viewed in the top 50 were streams of League of Legends, Fortnite, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Also, one-third of esports fans said they "watched esports as an alternative to traditional TV content."

The way things have been, it would be hard to imagine any game company not seeing positive movement on their bottom lines over the past few months. While the reason for that is obviously an unpleasant one, developers and publishers might be hard-pressed from stakeholders to keep up that momentum even after the crisis has passed. Let's hope that everyone in charge realizes the temporary nature of this surge and doesn't exert too much pressure to try and keep things trending upward.