Plague Inc game sales go fever pitch as coronavirus fear spreads

Ndemic Creations' outbreak management sim Plague Inc sales spike with coronavirus spreading.

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I'm sure that you have all heard about Coronavirus by now, with China shutting down cities and conspiracy theories spreading, but now game sales are spiking because of it. Game sales, you ask?

Plague Inc game sales go fever pitch as coronavirus fear spreads 02

You might remember (or even play) Plague Inc: Evolved, an outbreak management simulation available on Steam and mobile that was made by Ndemic Creations. The Steam player count has spiked just like cases of Coronavirus, with the developers coming out and saying that people shouldn't be using their game as a basis for real-world disease control... like people needed to know this.

Using data on the Steam Charts we can see that in the last 30 days that Plague Inc: Evolved peak players have increased by 84% to 15,823 players up from 1988 players back in December 2019. This is the highest peak players the game has ever had, highlighting the fact that Coronavirus is spreading on Steam faster than it is in real life.

The developer explains: "Plague Inc. has been out for eight years now and whenever there is an outbreak of disease we see an increase in players, as people seek to find out more about how diseases spread and to understand the complexities of viral outbreaks. We specifically designed the game to be realistic and informative, while not sensationalising serious real-world issues. This has been recognised by the CDC and other leading medical organisations around the world".

Ndemic continued: "However, please remember that Plague Inc. is a game, not a scientific model and that the current coronavirus outbreak is a very real situation which is impacting a huge number of people. We would always recommend that players get their information directly from local and global health authorities".

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* Prices last scanned on 3/19/2024 at 4:25 am CDT - prices may not be accurate, click links above for the latest price. We may earn an affiliate commission.

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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