March 2021
Featured in this insight: Food & drink, IT & telecommunications, Public health & wellbeing
30% of Brits admit to skipping a meal or shower to play video games during lockdown: A survey has revealed three in ten Brits skipped a meal or a shower in order to play video games uninterrupted during COVID-19 lockdowns.
The survey by Fresh Student Living sought to find out how the gaming habits of UK gamers have changed in 2020 due to various lockdowns. The survey revealed nearly a third of Brits were willing to skip meals and showers in favour of prolonged gaming sessions, with almost 66% saying they had lost sleep due to gaming.
During lockdown, the UK gaming community grew by 63%, found the report, with the main factors for this being it relieves stress and the ability to connect with others. Both men and women are as likely to play video games as each other, found the research, with just over half (54%) saying they play at least one video game per day.
The survey also revealed that before March 2020, the average UK gamer spent around 13 hours a week playing video games, the equivalent of 39 days over a whole year. During lockdown, that increased to 18 hours per week with the average sitting being between 1 and 3 hours; although some stated they had played for 15 hours or more at a time.
Most played games
FIFA 21 is reportedly the most played game by Brits in 2020, with 2.18 million games sold in total, nearly double that of Call of Duty:Black Ops Cold War and Grand Theft Auto 5 (1.4 million and 1.1 million respectively).
The most popular genre was fighting games, with 81% of people playing a video game in this category, and a further 79% of gamers stating they played action games. Multiplayer online games and multiplayer online battle games are both popular genres, found the research, with participants expressing they make them feel happier and calmer with a higher sense of freedom.
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