More and more people are turning to games to pass the time in quarantine, and while there have been some delays, games are still being released and updated while developers are working at home. However, when interviewed by Business Insider, Xbox representative Phil Spencer said that the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic on game development schedules will not be felt until early 2021.

"Summer or early fall? Spencer said in an interview. 'Games that were targeted for a year from now, or even later, will be able to handle it, although there will be some impact.'

Specifically, Spencer noted that certain aspects of big-budget development that are not feasible while teams are working remotely will likely cause delays for many games, including some that have not yet been announced.

"[Motion capture is] basically a standstill," he said. We don't go into motion capture studios." If you're capturing all the animation and doing touch-ups in areas such as more individual artwork and textures, you're in a better position. If you are waiting for large audio work (e.g., symphony) or waiting for mocap, you are now stuck in limbo."

No doubt Spencer is speaking from the perspective of Microsoft's various first-party developers, but we are already seeing games that have to adapt to this reality. Recently, ArenaNet, the developer of Guild Wars 2, confirmed that the next update will not feature any voiced dialogue.

Some smaller studios are also finding creative ways to overcome these limitations. In a recent development diary, the developers of the indie FPS "Witchfire" describe an ad hoc motion capture studio they built in their garage to work on new gun reload animations.

While tempting, this is probably not a viable solution for most studios. Overall, however, he is not worried.

"I'm fairly confident in the industry's ability to continue a steady stream of games," he says. 'There are a lot of games being produced right now across the industry, and as an industry I think we're going to be fine.' Even if there is a certain impact on the launch window for certain titles, I'm bullish on what this means for gaming in the long run."