Plague Inc, a game in which players try to infect the entire world with a deadly virus, experienced a huge surge in popularity last week after the Coronavirus outbreak in China was made public.
And as the virus continues to spread to different parts of the world, the creators have released a statement last week reminding people that while scientifically realistic, their game is just a game.
“Please remember that Plague Inc. is a game, not a scientific model. And that the current coronavirus outbreak is a very real situation which is impacting a huge number of people”. The company posted on its official website to subdue to Plague Inc Controversy.
The game was the top paid iOS game in China for a period of time. The surge in popularity though wasn’t a surprise for James Vaughan, founder of Ndemic creations and creator of the game. The studio has previously seen such patterns before. “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”. The statement added.
The game asks players to develop a deadly pathogen capable of infecting the whole world. Similar to Plague Inc.
To get more knowledge about how the disease is spread, people are intrigued to find it out by simulating on a device and hence such popularity
Plague Inc. is available both as a video game and a board game. The first version of the game was created eight years ago by Vaughan that too in his spare time! After early success he tried to make the games as realistic as possible.
In 2013, he was invited as a speaker for Centre of Disease Control and Prevention to give a talk about how games like Plague Inc. can help engage the public.
The studio has also encouraged the public concerned about the virus to be updated with the World Health Organization for further information and not to believe people for Plague Inc Controversy.
