Plague Inc. is a real-time strategy game where you play as a pathogen, and the goal is to become a disease that wipes outs the entire human population. The game has seen a spike in sales due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its developer, Ndemic Creations, has pledged $250,000 in response to help fight the impact of the virus. In addition to this, the company announced that they’re working on a new game mode where the player is tasked with saving the world from a plague.
In their statement, Ndemic Creations describes the new mode, saying, “Players will have to balance managing disease progression and boosting healthcare systems as well as controlling real-world actions such as triaging, quarantining, social distancing and closing of public services.” Players will have put the pieces together in a way that protects the most people, similar to the way the classic game mode has you manage the aspects of your created pathogen to take out the most people. To ensure the mode is portrayed as accurately as possible, the studio is receiving guidance form The World Health Organization, the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, among other resources. They assure the mode will be free for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and is available on mobile and console devices. There’s no official timetable on the release of the game mode.
More information will be given as it becomes available. Ndemic Creations has been very active in terms of informing players about this health crisis and responding to concerns that may stem from the games simulated plague situation. The company endorses donations to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for WHO, and says they will “soon be promoting the response fund directly in game for players who may want to offer their financial support to the WHO.”