Concerns of the virus has escalated since, the World Health Organization officially classified Covid-19 (Coronavirus) as a global pandemic, the gaming industry is now facing the challenge of sending employees to their homes to avoid further contamination. Bungie and Take-Two Interactive where the first gaming companies to establish the remote work policy. The implications of the virus has been devastating, 2020 was destined to be one of the best years for the industry.
E3 and GDC 2020 has been cancelled, and Konami was forced to delay the release of it’s retro console as the manufacturing process is nearly impossible. Esports has also suffered the impact of the virus, League of Legends Pro Circuit, Overwatch League and Call of Duty League live events has been cancelled in favor of online events.
The release of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 is currently on jeopardize, AMD thinks otherwise, as AMD’s Executive Vice President of Computing and Graphics, Rick Bergman revealed the following slide to attendees of AMD’s Financial Analyst Day.
Governments are anticipating that the next couple of months will have a severe impact on the world’s health and economy, recently German Chancellor Angela Merkel predicted that 70% of Germany could be infected with Coronavirus. While this is a worrying statement from the Chancellor, it suggest that industries around the world, including the gaming industry might be paralyzed for a short time. Studios are sending their employees to work at home, but maybe not all can enact the policy.
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are also suffering from a depreciation in the stocks market, a delay of the next generation of consoles is almost inevitable. Both Sony and Microsoft must be evaluating the situation and an update of the status release of the next gen device it’s more than likely to arrive in the following weeks.
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