Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: call of duty, coronavirus, Fortnite, italy

Italy's Gaming Network Traffic Shoots Up After Coronavirus Mandate

Published Sat, 14 Mar 2020 13:40:22 -0500

Last updated Sat, 14 Mar 2020 13:54:29 -0500

When you tell a country full of people they can't leave their homes due to the coronavirus, you should expect them to spend all day online. According to a story in Bloomberg, the mandatory lockdown in the country has forced many to occupy their time by staying indoors and working on their game. To the point where it has surged 66% over the past week and driven the country to new highs of usage. And apparently, the two biggest games right now in the middle of all of this: Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare and Fortnite.

Epic Games is Removing Look Controls From "Fortnite" — Credit: Epic Games

"We reported an increase of more than 70% of Internet traffic over our landline network, with a big contribution from online gaming such as Fortnite," Telecom Italia Chief Executive Officer Luigi Gubitosi said Wednesday on a call with analysts. Italy's national lockdown has shuttered all but essential services this week. On Wednesday, there was a surge in reports of lost internet connections by Telecom Italia customers. The number of complaints subsided later in the day.

"Telecom Italia's network is working perfectly and with higher volumes compared with previous days," the company wrote in an e-mailed statement. "The issues reported affected just some applications and the internet due to a failure of the international network."

If the U.S. or other countries decide to do a mandatory quarantine, you could end up seeing the same results on a much grander scale. Which we're sure is great news to Epic Games and Activision-Blizzard, but who knows how that will affect communications and access in the weeks to come. If anything, the coronavirus is preparing people for if the worst ever happens.

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