April 7, 2020

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY THREAD...

Time to Read: 3 minutes, 45 seconds

From the journal of The Daily Thread

Million Dollar Tuesday: Batcave

San Francisco is the coolest city in the USA, maybe the world. You won't believe what John Lennon said about it. This pad is the jewel of the Golden Gate City. It's got a wine wall, art gallery, infinity pool, batcave garage, and an outrageous water filtration system.

Why is Everyone Playing Animal Crossing?

Nintendo launched Animal Crossing: New Horizons on March 20. In the next week, New Horizons sold more copies than all other Animal Crossing launches combined.

Feels like Perfect Timing

The entire world is staying inside. The World Health Organization recommended video games as a substitute for interaction while social distancing. It seems like there is no better time to launch your new game than a global pandemic.

30 million people downloaded Call of Duty: Warzone in the first ten days after its release. This number makes Warzone the fastest growing non-mobile game ever. It helps that the game is free.

Bethesda's Doom Eternal also launched on March 20. The launch saw more than double the sales of the last Doom game. This makes Eternal the most successful game in the franchise.

Cruel Irony

Plague Inc. is an app where you design a disease and try to eradicate humanity. It was recently the top paid app on the Apple app store for weeks. Does it make people feel comfortable to play a game where they try to kill 7 billion people?

Like most successful apps, the game launched, got massively popular, then died. When the coronavirus showed up, Plague Inc. rocketed back up the charts and unseated Minecraft, the usual top spot.

Back in the spotlight, the creators of Plague Inc. added a new game mode where players attempt to stop a pandemic. They also donated $250,000 to help stop the coronavirus. Minecraft is now back to #1 and Monopoly is #2.

Animal Crossing Communities

Lots of games have seen sales spikes. None have seen the Internet craze of Animal Crossing. Maybe that's because the goal of all the other games I mentioned is to kill as many people as possible.

On Reddit, Animal Crossing communities are exploding. AnimalCrossingStories, a place to share about your day on the game, grew 10,600% in the last month. In the last week, the general Animal Crossing community added over 100,000 new members. AnimalCrossingTrading, a place for players to trade goods with other players, is the most active community on Reddit. Not bad for only 1,500 people.

A Sense of Normalcy

The world is an uncertain place right now. A game that takes place on a peaceful island and allows you to control your own life is a much needed escape. Violent games are fun, but players are spending oodles of time on Animal Crossing.

I reached out to 200 Animal Crossing players on Reddit and Twitter to see how much time they were spending on the game. People are playing a lot of Animal Crossing.

A Good Time for Switch

The popularity of Animal Crossing: New Horizons has also spiked Nintendo Switch sales. Switch sales in Japan were up 585% from the previous week. Nothing like selling the most popular game of the year and the only console it runs on.

Get Animal Crossing

If you want to join the masses playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you can get it here for $60. If you don't have a Switch, here's a link for that too.

Good News for Golf...and Hotel Owners

Since 1948, the chairman of Augusta National Golf Club has draped the green jacket on the Masters champion on the second Sunday in April. Yesterday, the Masters announced it will hold the tournament in November.

A room at the Hyatt hotel in Augusta tonight will run you $85. The same room on November 12? Can't tell ya. It's already sold out. The Motel 6 is available! A room for tonight is $40. November 12 will cost you $160.

That's not even the worst. The Residence Inn is $170. During the new Masters week, it's $1,500 per night. A wild 880% increase.

What's your Ranger Name?

The National Park Service runs a tremendous Instagram. I want to know your ranger name. Reply and let me know. I'll share the best ones tomorrow.

-- Moose Jaw Stone AKA Ryan

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