(Yicai Global) Aug. 3 -- The Covid-19 epidemic may have become an unexpected catalyst for the development of the gaming sector, according to the chief executive of Chinese games and movie producer Perfect World.

"The pandemic has pressed the speed-up button of the whole society's digitalization process," said Robert Hong Xiao in an interview with Yicai Global at the China Digital Entertainment Expo & Conference that ends in Shanghai today.

The claim can be backed by earnings. Despite the epidemic, several gaming companies posted great performance growth in the first quarter, said Xiao.

The Beijing-based firm, known for its releases such as the Legend of the Condor Heroes and Unruly Heroes, expanded its gaming revenue by 48 percent to CNY2.1 billion (USD300.9 million) in the first quarter from a year ago, according to its earnings forecast. Meanwhile, its net profit rose as much as 67 percent.

The epidemic shows how people may consume entertainment services even more when the economy is doing badly, proving an inverse correlation, according to Xiao. Moreover, the whole sector may also be upgraded in the process. The pandemic has made game developers further emphasize content with high-quality products, said Xiao.

But the field is not growing as fast as it used to. China's number of gamers rose by 2.5 percent last year after expanding by 7.3 percent the year before, according to the latest data from Gamma Data.

Still, the intensifying competition could speed up the adoption of new technologies. Cloud gaming is one of those opportunities in the medium-term, according to Xiao. But that requires the breakthrough of fifth-generation wireless networks so that people can play without buying expensive devices with more storage space.

Moving to cloud computing could increase the scope of use and customer stickiness, said Xiao. That switch would also change the gaming sector's ecosystem by disrupting distribution and operation models, he added.

One beneficiary of the technological upgrading would be the e-sports sector, according to Xiao. Combining 5G, cloud computing, and the increasingly mature virtual reality technology, e-sports should become "super interactive," he said.

Through wearables, spectators could be part of real-time matches, which should help the online sports sector that was only slightly hit by the pandemic to surpass the traditional one by offering deeper user experiences, Xiao suggested.

Editor: Emmi Laine