Pleague Inc, the famous viral game after the outbreak of Covid-19, has disappeared from the Chinese App Store.
Accordingly, Apple removed Pleague Inc from the Chinese App Store at the request of the country's Cyber Management Office. Publisher Ndemic Creations said the game was removed because it contained content that violated Chinese law. The incident happened unexpectedly and out of control.
Pleague Inc allows players to create dangerous virus strains that can destroy the world before scientists find a cure. The more people infected, the more points players will receive to increase the power of the virus. One of the strategies when playing Pleague Inc is to choose China as the source of the virus because it is a country with a large population.
Since its launch in 2012, Pleague Inc has generated buzz and is considered one of the most innovative, successful mobile strategy games of the decade. Currently the game has more than 130 million players worldwide, one of the popular paid games in China.
In 2014, the outbreak of the Ebola epidemic caused Pleague Inc's downloads to skyrocket. By January of this year, Pleague Inc. was once again popular as the new coronary pneumonia virus spread everywhere, starting in Wuhan city of China. The game quickly rose to the top of the Chinese App Store rankings.
Share on Weibo, some people attributed the reason Pleague Inc became hot because: "The best way to overcome fear is to cope with that fear."
Updated the Covid-19 epidemic until February 28, more than 83,000 confirmed virus infections, including more than 2,800 deaths and more than 36,000 recoveries. All 16 cases in Vietnam have been cured, while South Korea became the second largest outbreak after China.
The spread of the virus caused the MWC 2020 mobile show to be canceled, possibly to GDC 2020 when many publishers announced their withdrawal from the game exhibition held in the US.
It is unclear whether the cause of Pleague Inc's removal was related to the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic. According to Kotaku, maybe the Chinese government wants people to have a proper awareness about the virus.
British PocketGamer says that the Fake News (fake news) feature updated last December by Pleague Inc could create false information. In the Fake News feature, players can create their own conspiracy theory about viruses, combining psychological attacks to confuse public opinion.
While Pleague Inc is a good example of how the virus spreads, the publisher also advises players not to view this as an updated source of information about the Covid-19 epidemic.
"We designed the game to be more realistic and informative, and it did not take the reality seriously. However, keep in mind that Pleague Inc is a game, not a scientific model. "The outbreak of corona virus is a real problem affecting a lot of people," Ndemic Creations warned, advising people to update the news from mainstream sources to ensure authenticity.
Pleague Inc is still available in App Store outside of China. Ndemic Creations hopes to bring this game back to the country of billions of people soon in addition to supporting and updating the game regularly.
