In a normal year, Kim Saxton would expect video game sales growth to match inflation, so about 2% or 3%. This year, it’s up 20% over 2019 figures. But the Indiana University marketing professor said that type of growth isn’t limited to video games.
Sales by Hasbro, one of the largest manufacturers of board games, are up 21%. Board Game Arena, an online platform where people can play virtual board games with their friends, saw a five-fold increase in users last month, Saxton said.
Puzzle producers have a six-month backlog. And in the month before two new video game consoles — the Sony Play Station 5 and Xbox Series X — were released, a time when sales of current consoles typically decrease because people are waiting for the new models, sales were up 18%.
What’s going on is clear to Mathew Powers, an IU lecturer in media arts who has taught courses on everything from video game history to design and production.
“The pandemic has been one of the biggest boons for gaming in the last several years,” he said.
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