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Soundwave on 13 August 2020
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wohufana said:
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
PS4 Sales (March - July 2020)  =  5.03m

XBO Sales (March - July 2019) = 1.18m
XBO Sales (March - July 2020) = 1.78m

"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.

You're nuts if you think COVID19 hasn't had a large impact on consumer trends this year.

Netflix, Peloton (at home workout), Playstation all have seen record breaking revenue surges. Activision recorded their highest COD sales. Nintendo is in that group. Grocery stores are seeing record profit. Disney Plus subscriptions are way ahead of their targets.

Some businesses DO rise in a recession. When you can't go to Disneyworld like you promised the kids way back in January, a $200-$300 Switch looks awfully good to help ease their complaining. 

My neighbour's kids were driving him nuts at home all day, not even being able to see their school friends, so he bought them a Switch to save his sanity. They wanted that or a new Macbook, guess which option was a lot cheaper. The kids use it when they go on short weekend trips because they can't travel long distance this year. 

You're not taking any nuance into account by simply just looking at unemployment numbers. In general tech companies (Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, etc) have done very well under COVID19 ... the Nasdaq stock index is higher now than it was in February, before all the shut downs. Largely because with nothing to do sitting at home, the demand for personal technology and entertainment is at a premium. 

Last edited by Soundwave - on 13 August 2020