Gaming in the Time of Corona Can games be a part of the Covid-19 solution?

In the last few weeks, we have seen the entire world coming together and agreeing on one single idea to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic: individual quarantine. A new phrase, ‘Social Distancing’, has become the talk of the town and responsible citizens are self-quarantining to flatten the curve of the pandemic.

The good news is that social distancing has resulted in noticeable containment of the disease across several countries. Unintentionally, social distancing has also worked in favor of our environment, with reduced emissions from temporary closures of factories, halt in construction projects, and lesser vehicular movement.

On the downside, however, social distancing has been accompanied by some unwelcome side effects, including depression, anxiety, and stress. People are unable to meet friends and family, which has caused acute loneliness amongst the most social of us.

Exercising, meditating, and reading have been touted as effective strategies to combat this. However, getting into the routine for any of the aforesaid cannot happen overnight. It is here that online gaming could serve a vital purpose. Through online gaming, you can still connect with your friends and have fun while remaining safely tucked-up at home. Gamezop with its highly intuitive hyper-casual content is one of those leading the initiative:

“Over 25 Mn users play our games every month. At times like these, there is immense responsibility on us to ensure that we can keep our users engaged and try to hold them back at home. We are conscious that if we do our job well, we can play a part in checking the spread of the diseases in the communities of our users. Our team has worked around the clock to release a few features ahead of time to boost engagement on our product,” said Yashash Agarwal, the CEO of Gamezop.

It’s noteworthy to mention the Gamezop’s effort to mitigate the impact of the disease is not concentrated on users alone. Gamezop has also devised a strategy to help other online businesses. As gaming is one of the very few businesses that are growing with people spending all their time at home, Gamezop is working with non-gaming apps to bring games onto them (Gamezop’s games work within other apps and do not require any installation). Over 900 apps have partnered with Gamezop and integrated its games, including TOI’s NewsPoint, Mozilla Firefox, Ixigo, and others.

In addition to boosting engagement, Gamezop also shares 50% of the revenue that it makes with these partner apps. “We are all in this together. We are trying to help other businesses generate revenue from games while their core business may have been hit badly,” said Agarwal. “In a 30-minute integration process, any app can create a section for over 250 highly popular games. All the games are developed on HTML5 and do not increase the size of the apps that partner with us.”

Gamezop’s revenue-sharing model with partner apps

While a lot of research has been done concerning the potential negative health effects of video gaming, not much has been highlighted regarding their positive effects. Unfortunate times like these may underscore the social need for games of skill.

Games play an important role in our lives. They provide us with the means for entertainment, a sense of achievement, and a new way of socializing. Games not only boost one’s self-esteem but also one’s cognitive skills such as problem-solving and decision-making. All of these qualities are much needed at such a time where people are being quarantined. With smartphones becoming affordable and with increasing access to the internet, online casual gaming is providing people with the strength to ward off isolation.

By – Pallavi Gangwar