When it comes to young people interacting with friends they’ve met through online gaming, not much has changed. But there's been a big rise in those connecting with their existing friends through gaming. It's like their real-world friendships have found a digital playground. It’s less about gaming alone now, and more about socialising within the gaming universe.

This is probably an extension of what's been going on with social media, where existing friendships are moving into the online gaming space. When the pandemic hit and locked everything down, young people had to find new ways to hang out with their mates. In-person friendships found a new home in online gaming.

We can't say for sure if this trend is still going strong because the data isn’t yet available for more recent years, but it seems clear that the pandemic shook up what seemed like stable patterns between 2016 and 2019. The gaming world became a whole new way to connect.