As per Kaspersky, the Russian multinational cyber security and anti-virus provider, nearly 179 million gamers worldwide have had their ID stolen during the year 2020. It is estimated that, net loss to the community affecting one in a ten gamer could be worth $347 billion. The data collected through the 5,031 gamers across the 17 nations during the research to look over the state of global gaming in 2020 revealed that nearly 19% i.e one in a fifth have also been bullied in the online gaming.
In the survey the top four countries suffering the bullying to online games were Russia (44%), followed by Turkey (28%), Saudi Arabia (27%) and the United States (27%). Moreover, nearly 33% i.e one in a third gamer have been cheated in the community.
In a statement Head of Consumer Product Marketing at Kaspersky, Marina Titova said, “When gaming, it’s important to consider from the outset, how you can best avoid or handle bullies, cheats, and hackers. Acting on this early means you can put many of those fears to the side and focus on enjoying the game”.
The cybersecurity firm recommends to the users to be cautious while shopping for PC games and to go through well known platforms like Steam and GOG or through official developers sites for the purchases. It also recommends to have a separated card to shop and top it up as per required instead of linking the card that has all the savings.