The game that was ridiculously famous among teens and adults has been banned in China. Plague Inc. was already famous before the virus originated in the country, but the sales increased after the outbreak of the epidemic, making it the most popular game on Apple’s iPhone store app in the world.
Source: Ars Technica
So the government decided to remove it from China’s iPhone App store. Ndemic Creations, the owner of the franchise that created the game, says that the reason given for doing so is that the “content is illegal in China as determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China ”.
However, the creator of the games does not think that coronavirus has anything to do with Plague Inc. being removed from the region.
“It’s not clear to us if this removal is linked to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that China is facing,” Ndemic Creations said in a statement released on Thursday. “However, Plague Inc.’s educational importance has been repeatedly recognised by organisations like the CDC, and we are currently working with major global health organisations to determine how we can best support their efforts to contain and control COVID-19.”
Source: Business Insider
The coronavirus might be responsible for giving the pandemic simulator game a comeback. However, various health conditions around the world in the last eight years have also increased the popularity of Plague Inc. since its release.
Source: Cult of Mac
In January when users once again became addicted to the game, the studio said, “Whenever there is an outbreak of disease we see an increase in players, as people seek to find out more about how diseases spread and to understand the complexities of viral outbreaks.”
They do not believe that the application is a scientific model of how to spread or control the disease. Therefore, it should be treated as a source of entertainment only.
Source: The Economic Times Source: Observer
Well, the Chinese government doesn’t view it as just a game. Many people might even say that the authorities should be focusing more on finding the cure for the virus that has affected more than 82,000 people worldwide instead of banning an application that has no direct link with the problem.