As lockdowns sweep across the globe to try to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people who are online has increased dramatically, so much so that countries are concerned that the internet could break.
In Europe, Netflix is reducing streaming quality for 30 days. Netflix believes the move will lower its traffic by 25 percent. On a global scale, Google is defaulting all streaming to “standard quality,” but viewers can still select a higher quality as they watch.
Now Sony is joining the cause in Europe, announcing today that it is slowing and delaying game download speeds. In a statement on PlayStation Blog, Sony Interactive Entertainment president and CEO Jim Ryan said “We believe it is important to do our part to address internet stability concerns as an unprecedented number of people are practicing social distancing and are becoming more reliant on internet access.”