Plague Inc. gets pulled from the Chinese App Store, amidst the Coronavirus outbreak
In what could possibly be due to heightened tensions and awareness during the Coronavirus outbreak, China has pulled the game Plague Inc. from its regional App Store. The official reasoning behind this was because the game "includes content that is illegal in China, as determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China". The developers, Ndemic Creations, are attempting to appeal this decision, by contacting the previously mentioned Cyberspace Administration. Previously, Plague Inc. has been on the Chinese App Store for years, making it likely that the removal was due to sensitivity around viruses and pandemics and its relation to current events. In the past few weeks since Coronavirus cases were first diagnosed in China, the game surged in popularity, to which the developer had to issue an official statement stating that while Plague Inc. was made to portray pandemics realistically, it shouldn't be used as a tool to actually measure a real-life disease and how it would spread.
We have some very sad news to share with our China based players. We've just been informed that Plague Inc. “includes content that is illegal in China as determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China” and has been removed from the China App Store. This situation is completely out of our control.
Plague Inc. is a huge critical and commercial success. Eight years old and with over 130 million players, it’s the #1 strategy/simulation game worldwide and has been the most popular paid game in China for many years. Plague Inc. stands out as an intelligent and sophisticated simulation that encourages players to think and learn more about serious public health issues. We have a huge amount of respect for our Chinese players and are devastated that they are no longer able to access and play Plague Inc.
It’s not clear to us if this removal is linked to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that China is facing. 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.
We are working very hard to try and find a way to get the game back in the hands of Chinese players - we don’t want to give up on you - however, as a tiny independent games studio in the UK, the odds are stacked against us. Our immediate priority is to try and make contact with the Cyberspace Administration of China to understand their concerns and work with them to find a resolution.
Nothing is changing outside of mainland China: we will continue to support and update both Plague Inc. and our newest game Rebel Inc. on all platforms whilst also working hard to try and find a way to bring Plague Inc. back to players in China.
We will share more information about our efforts to support the fight against COVID-19 soon. You can find our statement on the current coronavirus outbreak here.
Chinese translation available here.
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