Millions of people in China spent February indoors with little to do but play on their phones. Sensor Tower, an app analytics firm, estimated that mobile game downloads rose 39% worldwide that month, and most of the increase came from China.
In the first three weeks of February, weekly game downloads there ran 80% higher. Apple’s App Store in China logged a record 62% jump. According to App Annie, another analytics firm, the games downloaded most were strategy and puzzle titles such as “Brain Out” and “Honor of Kings.”
Players paid, too. Spending on micro-transactions climbed fastest in “Game for Peace,” the Chinese version of PUBG. In South Korea, “Lineage 2” topped the spending charts.
Jeff Cohen, an analyst at Stephens, told clients that the quarantines were a direct cause. “Gaming has been one of the main beneficiaries in terms of increased time spent due to quarantine,” he wrote.
The backdrop was grim. The coronavirus started in the central city of Wuhan, and by the time of the report it had infected more than 93,200 people and killed more than 3,203 worldwide. Quarantine of possible cases was the main tool available, and it left people bored.
Global downloads were reported to have reached 4 billion, against 2.9 billion in 2019.
The gains were not shared evenly. Blizzard and Activision were expected to benefit most from the trend, while phone makers including Samsung, Apple and Nokia were seeing a slump in smartphone sales.
