COVID-19: global video game and console sales increase as of March 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic that spread across the world at the beginning of 2020 was not only a big threat to public health, but also to the entire entertainment industry. While cinemas and theaters closed their doors to try to stem the spread of the disease, many people turned to home entertainment during periods of self-isolation. From March 16 to March 22, a total of 1.58 million physical game titles were sold worldwide. This 82 percent total increase from the previous week is, in part, due to the release of new titles Animal Crossing: New Horizons and DOOM: Eternal. However, even when sales of these two games are deducted, physical game sales were still 10.8 percent higher than the previous week, suggesting that many people were turning to video gaming to keep them entertained through the crisis.