Gaming Internet Traffic

Video gaming is experiencing a significant uptick due to the masses spending more time at home. This certainly won’t come as a surprise. Below, I’ve listed a few highlights that I found most interesting this week:

Gaming highlights:

• Video game internet traffic is up 75%, according to Verizon (Motley Fool)
• Twitch Viewership is up 14% y/y this past week with 239M hours watched. There were still 9.3M hours streamed despite the cancellation of most live in-person esports events. (Dot Esports)
• Steam (PC gaming marketplace) hit an all-time record of 20.3M concurrent players (Twitter)
• CS:GO just hit an all-time record of over 1M concurrent players (Steam Charts)
• Call of Duty: Warzone has now hit 30M players since launching 10 days ago. The battle royale is now the fastest-growing non-mobile game ever, beating both Apex Legends and Fortnite. (The Verge)
• The Intel Extreme Masters in Katowice saw peak viewership over 1M for the CS:GO tournament, making it one of the most-watched tournaments in esports history. (Esports Charts)

Other interesting highlights:

• Joe Rogan talks about how gaming could be a key part of the future of in-home fitness (Dexerto). To that point, Ring Fit Adventure, a Nintendo exercise game, is selling out of stores worldwide as people look for ways to stay active indoors amid the coronavirus pandemic. (BuzzFeed)
• Todd Gurley and Michael B. Jordan actively play Call of Duty (Forbes)
• Formula 1 drivers, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, have now decided to compete in the world of esports racing. (Reuters)

A few of my takeaways from the above:

• It’s interesting to see a significant uptick in playing (+75%) yet only a modest increase in viewership (+14%). It seems that most people want to play and be social rather than just watch. The desire for two-way media vs. passive one-way media is clear.
• The engagement from athletes, actors, and influencers further shows how gaming is quickly becoming a key tenant of culture, lifestyles, and entertainment.