While the country continues to remain in lockdown, there's no question many of us have turned to social distancing-friendly activities such as video games as a means to stay entertained during the mandated isolation.
And it appears that this upward trend has given researchers the data needed to answer the question of which country can lay claim to being the very best at playing video games.
Kwalee, a data-focused gaming publisher, looked at more than 16,000 games to find where in the world has gained the most high scores, fastest laps and other achievements.
But if you think English gamers made it into the top 10, then you might be disappointed.
Using data available on speedrun.com totalling over 42,000 achievements that range from the quickest completion times to high scores, Kwalee also ranked countries by how many achievements residents of each had scored, divided by population size to give fair scoring.
Finland, a country renowned for its gaming culture, came out on top and was followed by Canada and Sweden.
Meanwhile, the United States ranked sixth and England 12th, beaten by the likes of Germany (11th) and Scotland (8th).
The Warwickshire based game developer also looked at who was the best at particular gaming genres, with Scotland reigning supreme over driving titles, while Japan punched its way to the top in fighting games.
Some of the main surprises however came from which countries gained the ultimate bragging rights over some of the world’s most beloved games, such as Croatia claiming the title for being the most skilled at FIFA, or New Zealand residents named greatest at Call of Duty.
It’s not all bad news though, England came out as being the most skilled at Tekken, Rock Band and Mario Kart, while Northern Ireland were found to be the very best at Sonic the Hedgehog! and the Republic of Ireland seem to be masters at platform favourite Super Mario.
David Darling, CEO of Kwalee said “We’re always looking for new insights into this world of players. It’s been really interesting to see where is ‘most skilled’ at particular types of games and how the popularity of certain titles differs wherever you go.
“With more people at home playing games now than they maybe ever have been, it felt like perfect timing to do this research, and maybe make things even more competitive at homes around the world”.
The full research, including an interactive map, can be found on Kwalee’s website.
