Throughout the pandemic, they have been an escape from daily bouts of bad news and a respite from boredom, yet video games have done more than provide digitized enemies for slaying and lead couch-bound adven颅turers on quests.
They鈥檝e played a major role in growing part of Victoria鈥檚 high-tech economy, which has managed to keep itself rolling and thousands employed.
鈥淧eople are not suffering in this industry 鈥� it鈥檚 a good place to be,鈥� said Clayton Stark of Victoria-based Kixeye gaming studio.
鈥淭he COVID bump came and went and we went back to normal for the most part, and generally speaking, the industry has remained very strong and unaffected over the last year or so.鈥�
The 鈥渂ump鈥� Stark refers to was the massive increase in the number of players and time spent playing, seen globally when the world went indoors last March.
Stark, chief executive at Kixeye and chief technology officer for Sweden-based Stillfront, Kixeye鈥檚 parent company, said the bump lasted for several months, all while other industries saw devastating losses amid pandemic restrictions.
The NPD Group, a U.S.-based analytics firm, reported total consumer spending on video gaming in the U.S. alone broke a record last year at $57 billion US, a 27 per cent increase from the previous year, with increases in all gaming categories.
Worldwide, video-game revenues could top $160 billion US this year.
Mobile gaming led the way in 2020, with a 12 per cent increase in play on tablets and cellphones compared with 2019.
NPD noted there were 303.7 million mobile users in the U.S. and sa国际传媒 last year.
Tim Teh, chief executive of Kano Apps, a Victoria-based developer, said at times last year, his company was breaking revenue records every month.
鈥淲e definitely saw the lift and I think most did. I heard that through the first quarter last year, companies were seeing a 30 per cent lift year over year,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 tailed off from that initial boom, but it鈥檚 still strong.鈥�
Teh said he also heard that Kano鈥檚 social games 鈥� played on social platforms such as Facebook 鈥� played an important role in building social connections. 鈥淭hat was what they were craving and missing so much.鈥�
Dan Gunn, chief executive at the Victoria Innovation, Advanced Technology and 颅Entrepreneurship Council, said it鈥檚 no surprise people have turned to tech products for connection, productivity and entertainment, resulting in local tech companies continuing to thrive even in the face of the 颅uncertainty and economic impacts of a global pandemic.
The most recent economic-impact study of the Victoria gaming scene, in 2014, pegged it at about $25 million a year, but Stark said that figure is likely way out of date and only a fraction of the impact it鈥檚 actually having.
Loc Dao, chief executive of DigiBC, the association representing the industry in the province, including more than 600 game studios, visual-effects studios, animation and virtual-reality companies, said the industry is healthy, though continuing restrictions on social gatherings mean the future is still uncertain.
鈥淭he small upside of the pandemic for sa国际传媒 is that those companies who had games in the market did well, but challenging for those small studios with games in development, as the normal way for making deals is through big in-person events, which aren鈥檛 happening,鈥� he said.
Dao said that companies might not be able to grow fast enough due to a lack of available skilled workers.
Teams for both Kano Apps and Kixeye are working from home, though a few may pop into the office on occasion, which has left both companies wondering if they need large studio spaces post-pandemic, or if remote work will continue to play a large role.
Stark, who has 70 employees in Victoria, suggests the ability to work remotely may be helpful in situations where skilled labour is in short supply.
鈥淲e have long had offices in different regions and had to learn to work remotely years ago 鈥� now the rest of the world has caught up,鈥� he said.
鈥淪o if I need new employees, they don鈥檛 have to be in Victoria. It definitely makes it easier to recruit.
鈥淲e鈥檙e now thinking about people five time zones away the same way we think of people who are next door.鈥�
Teh, who has 30 employees but expects to expand to 40 by the end of the year, said it鈥檚 unclear what the company鈥檚 physical makeup will look like post-pandemic.
鈥淚 know some big studios in Vancouver are going fully remote and we are wondering what our space will look like going forward,鈥� he said.
He is sure of a couple of things, however 鈥� that gaming鈥檚 resiliency through the pandemic is likely to mean increased investment in the industry, and that there are several habits people are likely to keep when the pandemic is over.
鈥淟ockdown has expanded people鈥檚 experiences,鈥� he said. 鈥淔rom watching people play video games online [esports] to being comfortable making online purchases. People will keep what has become part of their lives post-pandemic.鈥�
