Concerns about the Coronavirus outbreak in China have led to console manufacturing delays and companies like Microsoft dropping out of the 2020 Game Developers Conference, leaving the typically popular event increasingly hollow. As the World Health Organization, or WHO's, daily situation report says nine new member states have reported cases of the disease in the last 24 hours, the Chinese government has removed the strategic disease-spreading simulation game Plague Inc. from the Chinese App Store.
Plague Inc.'s developer Ndemic Creations announced the removal on its website today and said the situation is "completely out of our control." The Cyberspace Administration of China reportedly determined the game "includes content that is illegal in China."
Ndemic Creations said the removal was not explicitly connected to the Coronavirus, but after sales of the eight-year-old mobile game spiked due to the disease outbreak, it isn't hard to connect the dots. The developer included a link to its statement on the outbreak, which features information from the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and said it will be trying to connect with the Cyberspace Administration of China to find out more.
This would not be the first time the Chinese government's strict control on what media its citizens can access has affected video game developers, particularly indie studios. It was recently announced that the Harvard-Yenching Institute will be preserving Devotion, a Taiwanese horror game removed from Steam in 2019 because it contained an easter egg comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping to Winnie the Pooh.
With China reportedly being the epicenter of the disease outbreak slowly reaching every corner of the planet, it makes sense that the government would want to cut off any ties to media discussing the spread of disease. However Plague Inc. is known for being at the forefront of disease education, even supporting petitions to add mechanics like anti-vaxxers, and organizations like the CDC promote the game as an educational tool.
No doubt stories will continue to come out about the Coronavirus' effect on the game industry, in particular, as it spreads, with events like the Overwatch League also canceling matches due to disease concerns. The hit against Plague Inc. feels particularly sad because of the impact it could have on keeping the general populace more educated in its bid to stay safe and healthy.
Plague Inc. is out now for PC and mobile devices.