When it comes to playing online games, parents often think it's a distraction for students, but now, as COVID-19 rages across the globe and people are sheltered at home, video games suddenly become a popular choice to kill time.

On April 7, as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency in seven prefectures, Nintendo's shipments were thrown into a "state of emergency" as well.

Nintendo released a message saying that it was suspending shipments of Switch, Switch Lite, and other products in Japan. The time of resumption is yet to be determined. According to the local report, Nintendo's production has lagged due to the outbreak, with demand exceeding supply.

The United States and Europe, which still have inventories, are not immune to price increases.

The Nintendo Switch sold more than double the number of consoles in March 2020 in the U.S. than in March 2019, according to the data released by NPD market research.

On 29 March, Raymond Chambers, WHO's global strategy ambassador, initiated the #PlayApartTogether campaign on his personal social media account, in collaboration with major game manufacturers.

Although the main aim is to "stay at home," it was a call people were happy to heed.

On March 15, the game platform Steam set a new record with the number of simultaneous online players hitting 20 million. That number continued to rise as more countries issued "stay-at-home" orders. As of April 8, Steam had over 23 million simultaneous online players.

Xbox Live, the gaming platform owned by Microsoft, also crashed its login and online matching functions due to the influx of gamers.

Fighting side by side online and in the real world

"Honor of Kings" produced by Tencent, ranked as the world's highest-grossing mobile game in March 2020, according to data analysis platform Sensor Tower.

The team members in the game are from the south of the country. According to the weekly report, during the outbreak, they all turned on the microphone to ask about a member in Wuhan.

Some people in the game even changed their nickname to "add oil Wuhan," a Chinese expression of encouragement and support to someone, to show their support.

In many online game rooms, the players also turned on the "chat" mode, discussing mundane things from the price of vegetables to disinfection tips. 

Online games bring not only joy but also a sense of community to people during this world of isolation.