The coronavirus outbreak is causing gaming usage to spike by up to 75%

Xbox One S
Xbox One S (Image credit: Windows Central)

Play more to stay safe.

What you need to know

  • The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is convincing a lot more people to stay home instead of heading out.
  • Because of this, the amount of games people has spiked considerably.
  • According to Verizon, gaming usage on their network has increased by up to 75% since quarantines started to go into effect last week.

It's no secret that the coronavirus has had an adverse effect on the gaming market, with more and more companies implementing mandatory work-from-home policies and gaming events being cancelled everywhere. However, it does look like one positive has come out of the outbreak: an increasingly large number of people are staying home and playing video games insead.

This means that, at least for Verizon, gaming usage on their network has spiked by upwards of 75% during peak hours, which is a signficant change no matter what you're talking about. Video streaming usage has already risen by about 12% versus the average, showing that people are in fact staying home, and they're finding other ways to occupy their time. Which of course means playing more video games.

The full report is from The Hollywood Reporter, and it only means good things for the gaming community. Even while everything else is happening, you can still hop online with friends, families, and even complete strangers and play some awesome games.

This comes right as we're recieving more information about the next generation of gaming consoles from Microsoft and Sony: the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5. The gaming future looks bright.

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Zachary Boddy
Staff Writer

Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.