Barkley said:
It's well documented that covid-19 has resulted in a boom to the games industry. People have been stuck at home and needed entertainment. The other consoles have also seen increases in sales this year, which considering this is their last year is highly unusual and can only be attributed to the current circumstances. PS4 Sales (March - July 2019) = 4.75m XBO Sales (March - July 2019) = 1.18m "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. 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%" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_on_the_video_game_industry As for peoples personal finances, it must be remembered that money they would have been spending on eating out, leisure activities and other forms of entertainment is no longer being spent there. Money is being shifted from industries that are being closed due to the pandemic (cinema, restaurants, clubs, sport events) and instead in some cases being spent on video games. Whether this video game boost eventually turns into a drought remains to be seen, as the economic damage really starts to take root. People at the start of the pandemic may have been happy to spend money on gaming, but the longer it goes on they might start feeling the pinch hard. |
From a regional perspective, the Americas' labor market suffers the most. Recently, a New York Times article was titled "7.7 million young people are unemployed." It also says "nearly 7.7 million American workers younger than 30 are now unemployed and three million dropped out of the labor force in the past month."
Source https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-05-29/COVID-19-leads-to-dramatic-unemployment-young-people-suffer-the-most-QSUcPNPJ0Q/index.html
The so-called informal economy – whether migrant, agricultural, or shift workers in the developing world, or the gig workers and service-industry staff increasingly predominant in wealthier economies. The International Labor Organization found that COVID-19 had left almost all 2 billion of them finding it precariously hard to make ends meet.
Source https://www.csmonitor.com/World/2020/0506/No-jobs-so-what-future-Half-the-world-s-workforce-on-the-edge
The US unemployment rate has risen to 14.7%, with 20.5 million jobs lost in April, as the coronavirus pandemic devastated the economy.The rise means the jobless rate is now worse than at any time since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Source https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52591262
You cannot buy luxuries like consoles if you are unemployed. With these facts, I can say that consoles should have sold more if COVID-19 pandemic never happened. The increase in console sales is just minimal and therefore the 3 consoles should have sold more especially the Switch. Switch sales is simply a phenomenon, just admit it.
