In the time of COVID-19 and games: industry players and their thoughts

As it happens, the current COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic has been disrupting a lot of lives and industries, the games industry notwithstanding with a bunch of delays or special circumstances, see: FFVIIR, TLOU2. We asked a few of our regional industry figures in the Southeast Asia region on how their thoughts on the virus affecting games as a whole.

On deck we have DC Gan of Team Magnus (RE:Legend), Wan Hazmer of Metronomik (No Straight Roads), Shawn Toh of Battlebrew (BattleSky Brigade: Harpoon), and Elicia Lee of Zombits (GameStart).

DC Gan – Team Magnus (RE:Legend)

Gan talks about time lines and work flow, requiring more monitoring. He says he’s lucky to have a very disciplined team, so disruptions haven’t been as bad. He does acknowledge communication efficiency dropping when it comes to global businesses in the most affected countries like China, Japan, Korea, Italy and USA. Fortunately for them, they already prepared work from home procedures, and development, especially when working on digital content, has been less impacted, so long a workstation is available. The concern would be more on traditional businesses, in Gan’s opinion.

Wan Hazmer – Metronomik (NO STRAIGHT ROADS)

Wan Hazmer admits that while it may not have slowed down the company as much as he had expected, nevertheless, the way they have worked have been greatly changed. With open communication in the office, being able to see the things in person has been a great boon. The requirement to work from home now has made it more difficult should there be no use of teleconferencing.

Talking now has to be substituted with detailed typed comments, pointing to monitors in person is now uploading a relevant image or video with timestamps, and facial expressions are now emoticons. He trusts his team fully to be able to work regardless of the challenges, but there were definitely struggles in transforming hardware infrastructure and slow Internet connections. The release date for No Straight Roads has also been announced, and the marketing has required an innovative mindset, with Metronomik having help with their publisher Sold Out.

For indies, Wan Hazmer mentions the need to having physical booths, for one thing, but events are getting cancelled. After all, these events would be some of the biggest places they can show off their work. Remote working would be taking center stage, and software will need to innovate following the need. He believes the way things are done will be changed from inside out, thanks to the pandemic.

Shawn Toh – Battlebrew (BattleSky Brigade: Harpoon) 

Income wise, Toh doesn’t think it’s been affected as much with people staying in and playing games, but he suspects there will be long term effects in how people reduce spending overall. Everyone needs to work from home, and adaptations will need to be made to accommodate that.

As for the industry itself, he thinks the issues are pretty common: game development studios needing to shift to work from home arrangements, which can affect released schedules even if the game is only digital release, with more problems arising from boxed releases.

Naturally, travel and conventions will get affected, and he thinks shows probably won’t happen this year. Marketing and other opportunities would be adversely affected, with Battlebrew themselves supposed to be attending some events, which are now postponed to next year. For now, they’re just working on how to best weather the storm and find new ways to work as good training for that long term.

Elicia Lee – Eliphant (GameStart)

Elicia talks about all live events getting cancelled, both for their own IPs as well as client projects, making the year look uncertain. At the very least, tournaments can still be run online, and the focus is pushed to digital marketing.

More people are playing more games during this time, so she believes it might be a good time for publishers or developers. As it were, esports organizers are looking to move digitally, and larger companies have more open stances on working from home, so the games industry may not be hit so hard in the transition to work from home. Nevertheless, she points out the industry also relies on events and travel for contacts, which isn’t possible now.

Communication has also been moved to calls or chat apps, out of necessity.

Overall, it would seem that the work itself might not be fully affected, but communications through digital means just can’t beat the more personal touches when it comes to events. As the world as a whole moves to work from home arrangements, we need to keep in mind how even digital-only releases can get affected, especially more so should you be in an area with poor Internet connection. As brought up by Wan Hazmer, this is definitely an issue that can slow down work. That’s not forgetting the advantages of a physical presence to just show any issue instead of requiring a whole log for context.

Square Enix attempted to alleviate the logistics problems caused by disruptions from the virus by sending copies of Final Fantasy VII Remake early to the worst affected areas, then asked for people to avoid spoiling the game. The Last of Us Part 2, and Iron Man VR, opted to delay indefinitely so that the game can be released simultaneously to those who ordered their physical copies, instead. Both of these solutions have their issues. Both leave digital-only purchasers dissatisfied – FFVIIR’s digital copy is not open early, TLOU Part 2 and Iron Man VR will not be available at all, until this passes.

Not forgetting the events! E3, Taipei Game Show, Game Developer Conference? All cancelled. Developers and publishers can’t showcase their games in person at the booths, visitors can’t interact with them in person. Travel costs? Who knows how quickly they can be recouped, especially for indies. It isn’t just these events either, with a whole list of esports events getting cancelled, postponed or moved online exclusively. Organizers have to scramble to talk with shareholders, arrange refunds, the whole lot.

Even with precautions in place, infections can still occur, and well, you’ve likely heard of game companies like Kojima Productions, Square Enix, getting affected. The world grinds to a halt, and the games industry is no different.

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