The coronavirus outbreak hit the entertainment industry hard, causing enormous losses for the companies operating in this branch. However, as millions of people started spending more time indoors and online, the last few months have witnessed a surge in video gaming.

According to data gathered by GoldenCasinoNews, from March 16th to March 22nd, the global video games sales jumped 63%, with a total of 4.3 million games sold worldwide. At the same time, like-for-like game sales rose by 44% globally.

Digital Games Spending Hit an All-Time-High

Between March 16th and March 22nd, the global console games sales surged by 155%, reveled the Statista data.  The Superdata survey also showed that global premium console spending hit $1.5bn in March.

With an 82% jump in week-on-week sales, physical games ranked as the second-most wanted type of video game in March. Statistics show that between March 16th and March 22nd, nearly 1.6 million titles were sold all around the world. This increase was partially due to the release of new titles Animal Crossing: New Horizons and DOOM: Eternal. However, even without the latest titles, physical game sales still increased by 10.8% compared to the previous week.

Statistics show that digital games recorded a 52.9% increase in week-on-week sales in March, with more than 2.7 million games downloaded across 50 markets. Moreover, Superdata figures revealed that global digital games hit $10bn in March, the highest monthly profit ever.

US Gamers Spent 45% Time More on Gaming in March

Besides spending more money on video games, the Statista data also showed gamers around the world spend more time on gaming during the coronavirus lockdown. With a 45% increase in time spent on gaming in March, the United States ranked as the leading country globally. Also, a recent survey, conducted in the United States in April, showed that one in five respondents expect to spend more on gaming due to the coronavirus outbreak.

French gamers ranked second with a 38% increase in time spent playing video games. The United Kingdom and Germany follow with a 29% and 20% increase, respectively.