The small gaming company Psyon Games has taken on the role of an advocate in spreading vaccine awareness through its Antidote game.
The game Antidote (Android, iOS) plays a key role in GSK's awareness campaign to inform tourists about the risks of hepatitis A and hepatitis B as well as the easiness of vaccination in Finland. Some of the ads in the campaign show the Antidote character Hepatitis harassing a traveler, who has forgotten his vaccine.
Campaign video:
Psyon Games and GSK work together to measure the effectiveness Antidote-branded health communication The companies first piloted the idea lightly in the fall of 2018. With good results from the pilot, the co-operation is continued and intensified this spring.
Game Of The Year 2018 and featured by WHO
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), false news and the resulting mistrust towards vaccines are among the top 10 public health risks. WHO has referenced Antidote as a one of the new creative health communication solutions. Antidote was also selected as Game Of The Year in 2018 in the Applied Games Category by the Finnish Game Industry.
There are about 2.1 billion mobile players in the world. In the United States alone, there are 193 million mobile players. Psyon Games, for example, sees games like Antidote as a great opportunity to distribute reliable and valid information.
One of the investors of Psyon Games, Peter Vesterbacka, is known from Rovio, the company behind Angry Birds. Kenneth Forssell, former CEO of GSK Sweden and Finland, joined Psyon Games as a business developer in the beginning of the year.