Entertainment avenues have now gone online more than before all due to the Coronavirus pandemic because entertainment events as well as sporting events have been shut down indefinitely until the curves are flattened out something which still seems to be rising at the moment.
According to Razer, this will affect how future events will be hosted worldwide as the company faced some supply chain issues during the onset of the outbreak in China, it’s now able to enhance more live-streaming gear in order to meet the increasing demands from consumers who are stuck in their homes according to the company’s CEO and Co-Founder Min-Ling Tan during an interview this week with the South China Morning Post.
According to him, Razer is joining forces with Singaporean nightclub Zouk Group and live-streaming company Bigo Live in order to host online rave parties through it’s online streaming platform.
This is an event that will allow attenders to chat with DJs as well as send them virtual gifts using the Razer’s virtual credit.
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“I believe that after this outbreak, behaviour will change dramatically,” said Tan. “So … when clubs [for example] go back to normal, they’re not just gonna have the offline clubs, they will continue with streaming.”
As internet consumption seems to increase daily due to more people working remotely, China alone saw a high number totaling 2.3 million people reportedly tuning to the Beijin Club SIR TEEN’s live concert last month.
Also, clubs in Shanghai have also been able to rake in millions of Yuan in revenue by hosting online music events on Douyin, China’s short video social media version of TikTok.
While music and entertainment events aren’t the only events paused, sporting events also suffered from the pandemic forcing to the experimentation of the e-Sports.
Motorsports such as NASCAR and F1 have started hosting it’s events online whereby drivers are able to compete in a simulation game.
Without disclosing any specific projects, Tan said that Razer, which is nicknamed “the Nike of e-sports” by some, is looking for ways to bring e-sports offerings to these traditional players.
Last year, Razer helped with the e-sporting event in Southeast Asia Games last year which was the first International Olympic Committee-supervised event that is done electronically despite being a medal sport.
Tan in his optimism believe that the pandemic will accelerate the adoption of e-sports by a wider audience and will likely become the new way of hosting sporting events.
“When traditional sports go back to normal, they are still going to have the traditional sports element, but they are going to have e-sports at the same time,” Tan said.
The company announced this week its 2019 revenue which got a 15% boost and the company believes that despite the pandemic, the diversified nature of Razer’s business will not really be affected by the effects of the pandemic.
While Razer is seeing new opportunities as a result of the economic changes wrought by the pandemic – with more people working, learning and gaming at home – the Singaporean company is also pitching in to help with the containment effort.
In its bid to help fight the Coronavirus outbreak, the company recently announced it will be donating about 1 million surgical masks to global health authorities.
“We’ve actually converted some of our manufacturing facilities to make surgical marks … [At any rate] whether we procure them or whether we manufacture them, we want to be able to get these masks to the people who need them,” Tan added.
With more and more organizations joining in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, Razer believes the internet will be the future of events when the pandemic is over.
