Fortnite

We're all more than aware of the havoc being caused by the coronavirus outbreak - E3 is the latest major gaming event to be cancelled as a result - but the spread is naturally causing unique situations depending on your location.

Italy is one of a number of countries which has decided to close its schools in an attempt to prevent further spreading of the virus. With kids being left to occupy themselves at home, a sudden surge in internet traffic has been reported with a new boost in online gaming serving as one of the main contributors.

A Bloomberg report notes that Telecom Italia, a major Italian telecommunications company, has seen the amount of data passing through its network surge by more than two-thirds in the past two weeks. Games such as Fortnite and Call of Duty have been highlighted in the report, as their vast number of players are using more bandwidth than working adults' business programs and conference calls.

"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," says Telecom Italia CEO Luigi Gubitosi.

Reportedly, traffic from games like the ones mentioned above can spike even higher on days when updates are pushed live as keen players all jump online to download the latest content at the same time.

Of course, the popularity of online games like Fortnite may well grow further as more and more people are forced to stay at home. Pokémon GO developer Niantic has actually introduced new updates to allow players to enjoy the game from home, rather than having to go out and about.

[source bloomberg.com, via twitter.com]