Lockdowns and Playtime

Below is a more in-depth look at the effect of COVID-19 lockdown mitigations discussed in Project 4: Lockdowns and Playtime expanding on what we know about how these efforts influenced playtime.

This project was completed with data from . Please note that analyses are based on data collected between January 1, 2020, to December 5, 2021.

This project was motivated by assumptions and discussions of the potential impacts of COVID-19 mitigations that limited social gathering on heavy gaming. Many thought that losing opportunities to socialize in physical spaces would lead to more time spent playing video games and, in particular, more risk of playing in ways that might be detrimental to well-being.

Some previous research on the topic highlights that some mitigations, like work-from-home, may have increased free time and thus the amount of time people could spend on video games. Other work suggests that video games may fulfill a social need gap driven by a lack of outside options. Studies on these points are sparse, but some work with publicly available Steam data pointed to a rise in concurrent PC players in the first year of the pandemic.

These questions and assumptions have been of concern because of the potential implications of this for disordered or disruptive gaming, which can negatively impact well-being.

This project sought to investigate the presumed ties between mitigation efforts and possible increases in playtime that could negatively impact players’ well-being and health. If the project found no strong correlation between these mitigations and significantly increased playtime, arguments about negative impacts have little support.

The study evaluated 8 types of containment and closure policies in the context of playtimes on a global scale. Both playtime and number of players were assessed to find possible connections. Data collected through games made using Unity allowed for an analysis of 251.88 billion hours of playtime across 184 countries and territories for both mobile and desktop games.

The policy types analyzed in the project include: school closures, workplace closures, cancellation of public events, restrictions on gatherings, closure of public transport, stay-at-home requirements, restrictions on movements within a territory, and controls on international travel.

Only small amounts of playtime differences could be tied to mitigation measures. No policy studied appeared to have a large impact on the amount of time players spent in-game. For 1% of increased overall playtime within a territory, only two policies could be connected: closure of borders and closure of schools.

One way that this could be explained would be more people playing video games. School closures did appear to influence the number of players, contributing to more overall playtime. Three other policies were connected to increases in the number of total players greater than 1%, all of which related to school and workplace closures.

This study highlights the realities of playtime in the context of pandemic mitigations, showing that many of the concerns surrounding video games in this context, specifically in regard to younger players and excessive playtime, were not accurate. Restrictions on social gatherings, for example, did not explain any changes in number of players or time spent playing. While school closures did relate to increases in total playtime for a territory overall and number of players, it did not have a connection to average amount of time spent in-game per player.

There are a few possible explanations for the discrepancy between this study and previous studies indicating increases in individual amounts of time played. Previous studies were limited to self-reported data, data specific to countries or territories, and convenience sampling, which could influence conclusions. It is also possible that players in other studies were not playing games created in Unity or tied to Unity Analytics, which would place these players outside of the scope of this study.

Despite possible limitations, this study highlights a large population of players across different countries and territories and game titles on both mobile and PC platforms. When considering individual factors in playtime, concerns about problematic amounts of video game play have little support across this large-scale collection of players and game titles.

To keep up with trends in behaviors, refer to other projects currently underway!