BEIJING/SHANGHAI - Online games and short video apps have been among the few beneficiaries of China's virus outbreak, raking in millions of views and downloads as people stuck in self-quarantine at home seek entertainment and ways to beguile their time.
"I use my mobile phone for only three hours a day at work, but at least eight hours every day during the Spring Festival, because it's so boring," Mr Lu Zhang, a junior high school teacher in eastern Shandong province, said of the enforced holiday. Five mobile game developers, including Ourpalm, surged by the maximum allowed 10 per cent on Tuesday.
Also popular are health and fitness apps, such as Keep, which livestreams fitness classes. Its revenue surged 15 per cent for the week, while healthcare app Pingan Good Doctor saw downloads jump 1,186 per cent. The game, which allows users to create and evolve a pathogen to destroy the world, generated 78,000 downloads in January, up from 16,000 in December, according to Sensor Tower.
Escapism