The chairman, CEO and co-founder of hardware specialist Razer Min-Liang Tan (pictured) has said that the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic accelerated the “digital transformation” in the video games space.

In the company’s financial report for the six months ending June 30th, the exec said that the stay-at-home orders issued by governments around the world to slow the spread of the virus helped entertainment fast forward three-to-five years.

“While the ramifications of COVID-19 are still being felt across different industries, we have always had a clear view of how digital technologies are going to change the way that people seek entertainment, consume goods and services, as well as communicate and interact with each other,” Tan wrote.

“The pandemic has accelerated a digital transformation that we originally envisaged would take three-to-five years to unfold. The global ‘stay-at-home’ situation has boosted user engagement with gaming and esports to record levels, according to a report by the World Economic Forum. 82 per cent of gamers spent more money on gaming2 while Twitch clocked an 80 per cent increase in total hours streamed. Gaming traffic also soared by 75 per cent during peak hours.”

For the six months ending June 30th, Razer reported record revenue of $447.5m, an increase of 25.3 per cent year-on-year. The company also has $500m in the bank, with no debt.