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MTR

Member
Oct 27, 2017
496
Such a good read

I think there is no chance of new consoles this year.
I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of America is in lockdown similar to Italy in a week or 2

I really hope I'm wrong
 

Fredrik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,003
People with incompetent knowledge are usually the most confident.
Such a perfect post, goes for just about everything, the more you learn about something the more you understand how little you really know.

Roughly 5000 deaths now.

500 people infected in Sweden, it's even up at the north pole area where I'm at. This will be everywhere. This will affect everything.
 

ElephantShell

10,000,000
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,912
It won't get hit as hard as say, the film industry, but I'm sure there will be an affect. It's affecting literally everything else.
 

Pachinko

Member
Oct 25, 2017
954
Canada
I'm happy to admit when I'm wrong on something so I've gone back and updated my post on the first page. Just 5 weeks ago I though of COVID19 as little more than another bad cold the media blew up to be the next SARS or EBOLA or whatever , I still feel there's actually TOO MUCH panic over this if you aren't in an area with an active cluster of disease. People do need to be careful and need to follow the directions put forth by the CDC and WHO, slow this down as much as possible.

COVID19's effect on gaming is just a drop in the bucket, this has effected all entertainment at this point with film delays, shooting delays , sports leagues being entirely put on hold. It's become an unprecedented test of modern day life and will go down in the history books in 20 years as being the spanish flu of the 21st century. Hopefully things get better eventually but in the coming weeks and months ahead , it's not looking too great.

So to bring it around full circle, I said what I did 5 weeks ago because that's what I wanted to believe. If I panicked just because the news told me to over every thing I'd be a complete mess. In this case though, at least some of the fear mongering ended up being in good faith. I hope everyone out there stays safe and have been glad to read that China seems to have things a bit more under control , hopefully the rest of the planet can follow suit if it's not already too late.
 

TheZynster

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,285
I think it could boost digital sales honestly. People bunkering down on their consoles and looking at stuff to check out or play.
 

Expy

Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,861
It will affect our lives for a good while, but I don't see it affecting the gaming landscape at all in the longterm.
 

j7vikes

Definitely not shooting blanks
Member
Jan 5, 2020
5,626
I think it could boost digital sales honestly. People bunkering down on their consoles and looking at stuff to check out or play.

I can agree with this. I mean if people are working from home or schools/colleges going the full online route you're probably looking at many gamers with more free time. Maybe even more so if other forms of entertainment are limited like going to the movies or watching sporting events on tv or in person. I usually go out with friends multiple times during the ncaa tournament and who knows if we will do that now.
 

Toxi

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
17,547
As for the bolded... considering the infection rate is similar to influenza's according to current estimates and the mortality rate for elders is around 8~15%, I wouldn't really say their chances aren't good, c'mon. Even in a worst case scenario where they end up getting infected, they have, at the very least and in the most pessimistic scenario possible, an 85% chance of surviving. Those are damn good chances.
Since this is on gaming side, I'll bring up a relevant comparison: Under your scenario, an elderly person's chance of surviving COVID-19 is equal to Fire Blast's accuracy.

Now think about how many Fire Blasts you've missed playing Pokémon.
 

XaviConcept

Art Director for Videogames
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
4,900
It already has, many companies have instituted WFH policies, I myself started working from home today and for a company like ours its not a small deal. They have handled it extremely well though, so they deserve a good deal of credit.

Teams will require some adjustment time so I wouldn't be surprised by delays, at the very least. Dealing with China specifically (outsourcers and the like) the Corona outbreak coincided with Chinese New Year so the work stoppage was mostly happening at the same time, however, thats for a very small subsection of production, for hardware manufacturers I think it will be a substantially bigger deal
 

ClickyCal'

Member
Oct 25, 2017
59,510
My bad, I forgot ERA does that thing where it goes to the first unread post rather than the first page when you open threads. My point still stands, though. Go back 1-2 weeks and the mood was completely different and largely dismissive.
I agree that even just like two weeks ago it was. There were still under 30 reported cases though then and most of them cleared.
 

Scarface

Member
Oct 27, 2017
5,076
Canada
maxresdefault.jpg
 

Javier23

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,904
I'm happy to admit when I'm wrong on something so I've gone back and updated my post on the first page. Just 5 weeks ago I though of COVID19 as little more than another bad cold the media blew up to be the next SARS or EBOLA or whatever , I still feel there's actually TOO MUCH panic over this if you aren't in an area with an active cluster of disease. People do need to be careful and need to follow the directions put forth by the CDC and WHO, slow this down as much as possible.

COVID19's effect on gaming is just a drop in the bucket, this has effected all entertainment at this point with film delays, shooting delays , sports leagues being entirely put on hold. It's become an unprecedented test of modern day life and will go down in the history books in 20 years as being the spanish flu of the 21st century. Hopefully things get better eventually but in the coming weeks and months ahead , it's not looking too great.

So to bring it around full circle, I said what I did 5 weeks ago because that's what I wanted to believe. If I panicked just because the news told me to over every thing I'd be a complete mess. In this case though, at least some of the fear mongering ended up being in good faith. I hope everyone out there stays safe and have been glad to read that China seems to have things a bit more under control , hopefully the rest of the planet can follow suit if it's not already too late.
You could just own your mistake, which we all make, instead of writing two essays to try and justify yourself. You weren't properly informed and rushed to make the wrong assessment. It happens.
 

sgurschick

Banned
Jul 7, 2019
46
User banned (5 days): misleading point of comparison in a sensitive thread
I feel the worry is a bit overblown. Upwards of 50K people a year die in the US from the flu each year.

You'd think though that media storm surrounding Corona would light a fire under US citizens asses show them just how important free Healthcare is.
 

Another

Banned
Oct 23, 2019
1,684
Portugal
Since this is on gaming side, I'll bring up a relevant comparison: Under your scenario, an elderly person's chance of surviving COVID-19 is equal to Fire Blast's accuracy.

Now think about how many Fire Blasts you've missed playing Pokémon.
This comparison isn't helping your case. Fire Blast isn't known for being particularly egregious and is actually one of the most reliable straightforward nukes in the meta, hence it being such a staple move in competitive pokémon. Same for Megahorn, Will-O-Wisp, Power Whip and Precipice Blades. Will-O-Wisp in particular is extremely common.
Believe me, as someone who's into competitive pokémon and has been running Ferrothorn and Forretress as tanks on her teams for quite a while, I know very well just how few times Fire Blast misses. I'll admit Ferrothorn baiting and Chandelure flash fire switching is extremely satisfying though! ^^
Hell, even 80% accuracy moves like Hydro Pump, Gunk Shot and Stone Edge are still very reliable and also competitive staples.

Now, Thunder, Blizzard, Hurricane and Focus Blast on the other hand... yeesh!
 
Oct 26, 2017
16,409
Mushroom Kingdom
Props to all the people owning up to their shit. lol

Sadly we're at this point and it's likely going to get worse.Stay safe and hopefully take your newfound knowledge to take the precautions and help others get informed and practice safe measures.

Those of you still downplaying this, find the nearest person and ask them to slap you in the face.
We've got the stock market crashing, countries on lockdown, big events and festivals getting cancelled, sports leagues suspended, infected celebrities...do i need to keep going...

People with incompetent knowledge are usually the most confident.

We've found ERAs official tag line lol
 

Mekanos

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 17, 2018
44,127
It won't get hit as hard as say, the film industry, but I'm sure there will be an affect. It's affecting literally everything else.

I think hitting the manufacturing chains will be really bad and comparable to the film industry. Sony and Microsoft probably won't get their consoles out this year which is a huge problem.
 

RestEerie

Banned
Aug 20, 2018
13,618
it already did, not just hardware but software.

Most wouldn't know but alot of AAA games outsourced certain parts to China, specifically art, QA and programming. I mean just one random example, just look at the credit scrolls for God of war 2018.

With most of china being in locked down, some outsourced staff might not be able to go to office to work. Not every jobs related to computer can be work from home.
 

Weltall Zero

Game Developer
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
19,343
Madrid
I'm aware of this, what I'm asking is how is 3% "concerning" and very serious? Maybe I'm thinking like a sociopath, here but 3% seems very low compared to something like SARSs 10% and Ebola's insane mortality rate.
Obviously, SARS was much less contagious so all told the death toll will be much higher for this, but 3% doesn't seem all that threatening, big picture wise... I expect we'll have fully (socially, politically and economically) bounced back within less than 15 years.

I'm looking at it this way and I don't see what's so worrying about it. Like I just said though... maybe it's just me thinking like a sociopath. 1 million out of 330 seems like a speed bump. Russia lost upwards of 25 million people during WW2 and less than 20 years later they had fully recovered.

I'm not sure where that "1 million out of 330" figure comes from, but assuming you mean mortality in a worst-case scenario of "everyone gets infected", then 3% of 330 million is not 1 million, it's 10 million.

Unfortunately you're missing a crucial detail I myself had overlooked until a couple weeks ago, which is what makes COVID really scary. It turns out you don't become immune to it: you can get it more than once.
www.businessinsider.com

People can get the coronavirus more than once, experts warn — recovering does not necessarily make you immune

People who have gotten the coronavirus before could still get it again. This happened to a tour guide in Japan.
A lot of people are counting on "worst case scenario, I'll get infected, but I'm young and healthy so two weeks later I won't have anything to worry about". Unfortunately that's not the case: corona is like the cold, or the flu, only far more contagious. This means that once a threshold of infected people is reached (and we may well be above that threshold) there's a very strong possibility that it will never go away, and it will become something we have to live with indefinitely, again like flu. It also means we may never be able to develop a vaccine that treats "coronavirus" as a whole.

Third of all: there's a pretty strong possibility that it mutates. Worse, the more people that get infected, the more possibility of more and more new mutations appearing:
www.newscientist.com

Coronavirus: Are there two strains and is one more deadly?

Researchers in China say there are two strains of the new coronavirus, one of which is more aggressive – but the World Health Organization says the virus is stable

So yeah, it's pretty fucking bad. :(
 

ShiningBash

Member
Oct 29, 2017
1,416
I can't criticize any of those first page reactions, bc I felt the same back in February. In fact, I avoided this thread bc I thought it was alarmist.

At this point, I think the PS5 is going to get pushed to 2021 and there are countless indie games/studios that may no longer exist following the cancellation of trade shows this year. For example, imagine if this happened right after the Cuphead devs mortgaged their home to work on the game. Do they ever link up with Microsoft?
 

texhnolyze

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,155
Indonesia
To be fair, this thread was created in early February. The situation was much different then compared to right now.

Some people were still clueless (and ignorant) about the issue.
 

Xenoblade 3

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,953
New York City
Even back on February 3, people on the first page were too dismissive.
At that point, Wuhan was already locked down (remember it's a city that's bigger than NYC) and Nintendo reported that their production will be affected.
 

Philippo

Developer
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
7,903
Yes, even on the software side.

I had a job interview via Skype yesterday, and the person interviewing me said that they had to put an entire 200+ devs company on smart working. Nothing impossible, sure, but the logistics of doing it, applying the changes and get everything up and running will inevitably generate delays on all fronts, even if only minor ones.

And it will only get worse as it spreads across countries less affected until now.
 

cmdrshepard

The Fallen
Oct 30, 2017
1,557
Software and hardware will be impacted to some level by this point and if this gets worse it could absolutely lead to delays in both. With the way China has locked down production lines, possibly even expect a delay in PS5/XSX into next year if this carries on at this level over the next few months.

Also expect to see support and even main studios close overseas and stateside (Bungie is most prominent stateside to my current knowledge) and will possibly lead to game delays.

We will also likely see some companies struggle financially and possibly even see some companies fold. We will definitely see workers who are on casual or contract be the first casualties and possibly even permanent staff let go. Might see projects cancelled.
 

Skade

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,853
It might delay some games and i guess te production of some consoles / PC parts, sure. But i don't see it impacting much more than that. At this moment in time at least.
 

AlecKoKuTan

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,256
Irvine, CA
isnt the point of doing that is to prevent spread from people who may have it, but dont know?

Huh? I think we are on the same page here? I was mad that Halo Follower, in that video, made it seem like this is all just media hype--fake news. I've never seen my organization mobilize the way it is, this is real shit. Glad E3 is being cancelled, as well as other events and most organizations are treating this as the global pandemic that it is.


Sharing this around - Michael Osterholm is an internationally recognized expert in infectious disease epidemiology, video is highly informative.
 
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Gay Bowser

Member
Oct 30, 2017
17,661
I feel the worry is a bit overblown. Upwards of 50K people a year die in the US from the flu each year.


It might delay some games and i guess te production of some consoles / PC parts, sure. But i don't see it impacting much more than that. At this moment in time at least.

We can all laugh about how silly the first page was, but it's just weird reading people still posting these things now.
 

Jimmy Joe

Member
Aug 8, 2019
2,200
User banned (5 days): fearmongering, spreading misinformation
I did think of all that, hence why I said we'd probably be fully recovered within 15 years, if I was just focusing on the deaths I obviously wouldn't have gone for such a ludicrously high estimate.



See above.

As for the bolded... considering the infection rate is similar to influenza's according to current estimates and the mortality rate for elders is around 8~15%, I wouldn't really say their chances aren't good, c'mon. Even in a worst case scenario where they end up getting infected, they have, at the very least and in the most pessimistic scenario possible, an 85% chance of surviving. Those are damn good chances.

The racism is indeed extremely unfortunate and I've witnessed it first hand on several occasions, people go batshit when they fear for their lives...
That rate for "elders" is for folks 50+, and it gets worse as you get older; when you're 70 or above, the mortality rates are considerably higher!

And the death rates assume that you're receiving proper medical care; if the medical system is overwhelmed, like in Italy, then folks with very strong comorbidities will start dying at much higher rates simply because there aren't enough ventilators to keep them alive

It's impossible to tell how bad this could get. This is shaping up to be our generation's Spanish Flu, or worse.
 
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Siresly

Prophet of Regret
Member
Oct 27, 2017
6,570
Glad I didn't post in here a month ago. Wouldn't have been as complacent as to just dismiss it, but at the time I was not under the impression that it would spread like it has, felt like there was a chance it wouldn't. And I hadn't considered all the various effects it could have beyond just the disease itself, how things just get locked down, scarcity, markets etc. It affects pretty much everything.
 

Bosch

Banned
May 15, 2019
3,680
That rate for "elders" is for folks 50+, and it gets worse as you get older

When you're 70 or above, the mortality rates are more like 30-40%, which is effectively as good as ebola

And the death rates assume that you're receiving proper medical care; if the medical system is overwhelmed, like in Italy, then folks with very strong comorbidities will start dying at much higher rates simply because there aren't enough ventilators to keep them alive

It's impossible to tell how bad this could get. This is shaping up to be our generation's Spanish Flu, or worse.
30-40% ? no man sorry but no.
 

ANDS

Banned
Jun 25, 2019
566
You could just own your mistake, which we all make, instead of writing two essays to try and justify yourself. You weren't properly informed and rushed to make the wrong assessment. It happens.

The folks minimizing the impact were just as informed as those hedging their bets on mass cancellations which is to say not very.
 

Skade

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,853
We can all laugh about how silly the first page was, but it's just weird reading people still posting these things now.

Well, technically and with enough preparation, game development could be done while working remotely from home (that's the case for web development, so while the hardware recquirements for game dev is certainly higher, it should still be possible to make it work without too much issues). With this, i don't see it impacting "too much" the software part unless the infection rate grows much bigger and the quarantines really don't work.

Sure, on the hardware side of things, it's more complicated. But it seem to be calming a bit already in China, where most of it produced. So while likely ramped down, the production still might be running. It's more on exporting the hardware to other countries that the problem seem to be at this instant "T". Especially for the US.

But eh, i guess i'm just an optimist ?
 

RLCC14

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
2,447
JP fighting game devs are gonna start eating even more shit due to their crappy netcode so that's good.
 

Javier23

Member
Oct 28, 2017
2,904
The folks minimizing the impact were just as informed as those hedging their bets on mass cancellations which is to say not very.
Lol no. Having been working on this thing since the end of the holidays I will say there was always a variety of opinions even among those well informed. This thing is new and no one can be an expert on something that just popped up into existence. But at the time this thread was made it was incredibly OBVIOUS to anyone paying attention that this thing was gonna affect gaming as a whole one way or another.
 

ANDS

Banned
Jun 25, 2019
566
Lol no. Having been working on this thing since the end of the holidays I will say there was always a variety of opinions even among those well informed. This thing is new and no one can be an expert on something that just popped up into existence. But at the time this thread was made it was incredibly OBVIOUS to anyone paying attention that this thing was gonna affect gaming as a whole one way or another.

I work in the field and even here the anticipation of disruptions to this extent (we just extended spring break and classes will be remote for the remainder of the semester) only just began in earnest at the end of last month. I don't know the backgrounds of everyone who was on the "Well obviously it's going to be REALLY bad" side of things, so it's entirely possible their assessments were based on some pretty good predictive insight.
 

Furyous

Banned
Jan 7, 2018
433
It should have an effect on gaming releases, game sales, and player base.

Giant Bomb said the industry might not feel the full impact until the second or third quarter.

Player base should increase in some games since people are home but that raises another issue..

If people forced to stay home or take less hours they might not spend allocated gaming money...

I could buy nioh 2 right now but probably hold off due to businesses losing money.
 
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