With Social Distancing Lifted... No Time to Play Games

Business Hour Restrictions Lifted
Outdoor Activities Like Travel Increase
PC Bang Usage Time Has Not Yet Recovered

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] According to the recent lifting of social distancing measures, the time spent using PC bangs, which had significantly decreased, has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. This is analyzed to be due to the pent-up desire for outdoor activities and travel exploding. However, a clear recovery trend is being observed, prompting the related industry to welcome the change.

PC Bang Game Usage Time Decreases for Three Consecutive Years

According to The Log, a PC bang game statistics service, the total nationwide PC bang usage time for the week from April 18 to 24, after the lifting of social distancing, was 14.14 million hours, a 17.6% decrease compared to the same period last year. Compared to 2019, before the spread of COVID-19, this is a staggering 47% decrease.

Since COVID-19, total PC bang usage time has shown a sharp decline. In April 2020, when COVID-19 began to spread nationwide, game usage time decreased by about 9% compared to the previous year, and in April last year, due to restrictions on PC bang operating hours, game usage time decreased by about 30% compared to the previous year.

Despite the removal of operating hour restrictions following the lifting of social distancing, PC bangs have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. The industry analyzes that the main user base, feeling liberated from social distancing, still prefers pubs during late-night hours rather than PC bangs, and prioritizes outdoor activities over indoor ones.

Clear Recovery Trend, Game Industry Welcomes It

However, the game industry welcomed the clear recovery trend. In the third week of April, total PC bang usage time increased by 28% compared to the previous month and by 25% compared to the previous week. A game industry official stated, "With the lifting of social distancing, the absolute time available to use PC bangs has increased, and game usage time is also rising accordingly. Although the figures are still lower compared to before COVID-19, the trend of increasing game logins and traffic suggests a rapid recovery is possible."

There were concerns that mobile game usage would decrease as remote work ended, but it is reported that there is little difference. Another game industry official said, "Despite the lifting of social distancing, mobile game login rates have not changed significantly. Since mobile games were mainly used during commutes before COVID-19, it is analyzed that mobile game usage time may even increase as commuting normalizes."

Meanwhile, the game industry, which had few new releases last year, plans to launch new titles one after another this year. Netmarble is scheduled to release ‘Seven Knights Revolution,’ ‘Merge Kungya Island,’ and ‘TinyTan House’ consecutively, while NCSoft plans to launch a new intellectual property (IP) ‘TL’ this year. Krafton will also release new titles such as the turn-based strategy game ‘Project M’ in the third quarter and ‘The Callisto Protocol’ in the fourth quarter.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.