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The pandemic has changed our lives significantly. Isolation forced people to spend more time at home, and this also contributed to the popularity of computer games. Especially those that allowed players to maintain social contact at a distance.
Today, the global audience of gamers on all platforms exceeds 2 billion people. And this number is constantly growing, thanks to young players who have been using mobile Internet almost since their birth. The Australian gaming industry is also experiencing one of the best eras in its history. Local video games, Aussie casinos online, and all other types of gaming entertainment continue to evolve.
In this article, we will talk more about how the Australian gaming industry has changed since the pandemic.
1. The Number of Players Has Increased
It increased enormously during the pandemic. The same things happened to the number of new PC and mobile gaming buyers. And it’s not strange at all, as gaming has become one of the best forms of entertainment during isolation at home. Almost all of the major publishers like Steam have consistently reported record numbers of one-time active users. But most importantly, even after the tough quarantine ended, most players also continued to play their favorite games on a daily basis.
2. Esports Became More Popular
Quarantine restrictions forced governments to cancel all mass events. Sports competitions were no exception. Soccer, basketball, and tennis tournaments have been postponed. On the other hand, online esports competitions continued to take place, and their audience grew enormously.
3. Online Gambling Is Growing Rapidly
Most of the best aussie casinos online have benefited from the quarantine and gained tremendous popularity among gamblers. Like other online games, casinos and betting become a great way to escape from the COVID reality. The owners of online platforms clearly understood this and did even more to popularize such entertainment. They increased the number of different bonuses, free spins, cheap deposits, and profitable cash backs. As a result, thousands of players spent their time playing poker, roulette, and slots on a daily basis.
4. IT Giants Enters Gaming Market
Another trend is the entry of major technology companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and Nvidia into the gaming market. In most cases, they are interested in cloud products. This industry is focused on the use of remote servers, which frees players from the need to buy special hardware for high-quality gaming. Of course, we should expect to see huge announcements of really great products from such large companies in the future.
5. Gaming Communities Are Booming
During the isolation, millions of people around the world felt extremely lonely. Lack of communication and social ties negatively impacted their psychological state. The ways out of this situation were all kinds of online platforms and communities that helped players find new friends and like-minded people. Even small breaks for such activities as communication had a very positive impact on people’s mental health. This is also the reason for the emergence of a huge number of gaming communities in social networks and special forums.
6. Gaming Became Cheaper
With the growing number of players, publishing companies began to receive more profits. This allowed to reduce the cost of products and make them available to a larger audience. And what is not surprising, the revenue from such actions only increased. Major companies also changed their monetization strategies and began to focus more on selling various add-ons, heroes, unique items, and other virtual products. In this way, they managed to make their games more accessible and profitable at the same time. It is likely that this approach will be used in the future.
7. Mobile Games Gained The Market
Finally, it is impossible not to mention the huge growth in sales of mobile games. Nowadays, the graphics and quality of such content are at a really high level. Some mobile products look even better than PC or console versions. But the biggest benefit is that people did not have to spend their last money to buy expensive equipment during the pandemic. Even with a simple phone, they were able to enjoy their favorite game. Such advantages allowed the mobile gaming market to grow several times in a short period of time.
Conclusion
In a few decades, gaming has progressed from a rare and expensive entertainment to the most popular way of spending time among children and adults. Australian players have never been behind their peers from other regions, so the country’s industry has always been growing intensively.
The COVID-19 pandemic is generally beneficial for the gaming market as it attracts new users who were not previously the target audience, but who have tried video games during social isolation. At the same time, avid players also keep playing and spend more and more money on gameplay thanks to new methods of monetization appearing in the market.
