BEIJING/SHANGHAI – Video game “Plague Inc”, of late surging in popularity amid the coronavirus epidemic, was removed from Apple’s China app store after Chinese regulators claimed it contained illegal content, according to its developer.
The game is based on a strategy where players come up with a pathogen to destroy the world. It soared to the top of China’s app store charts in January due to the fact that consumers turned to virus-related games and films to cope with the epidemic. It also jumped in app rankings in other countries.
The game’s UK-based developer and publisher Ndemic Creations said that the situation is not in their control adding that its immediate priority was to contact the Cyberspace Administration of China to analyse their concerns and work towards a resolution.
China has stringent video games to movies to music content rules and they censor anything believed to violate core socialist values. Gaming companies need to seek licenses for games they want to publish.
Censors tightened their grip in recent weeks- WeChat groups, podcasts have been shut down and social media posts and articles deleted.
Plague Inc may have been taken down simply because of sensitivities around the topic and the title’s gameplay given the recent outbreak.
It can also be attributed to a new feature in the game where players can create “fake news” stories about the virus. This observation was a result of noting that other epidemic-related games were still available in China.
The game’s removal seems unrelated to an update Apple made this week where developers of revenue-generating mobile games on its Chinese site had to obtain a license from the government of China, as other unlicensed games had not been affected.
Apple lagged other app stores in enforcing this rule and has set a June deadline.
The game was installed by over 2.2 million Apple iOS users in China since its introduction back in 2012 where 9% of these have occurred since January, according to gaming data tracking firm Sensor Tower.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.