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Plague Inc. removed from China iOS App Store

The pandemic-based strategy game has been pulled from the App Store in China for illegal content.

Donovan Erskine

February 28, 2020 7:00 AM

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Ndemic Creations’ Plague Inc. has grown to be one of the most prominent mobile games since its release in 2012. Tasking players with spreading a disease with the ultimate goal of eradicating humanity, Plague Inc. has not been short of controversy. Ndemic broke the news on their website that the game has officially been removed from the iOS App Store in China.

“This situation is completely out of our control”, Ndemic stated in their blog post. Chinese regulators pulled the game from the store citing that it “includes content that is illegal in China as determined by the Cyberspace Administration in China.” While the Chinese regulators that removed the app never stated the ongoing Coronavirus crisis as one of the driving factors behind this choice, it’s hard to imagine the two are completely unrelated. Ndemic notes this in their post, stating that the company has plans to support the fight against the disease.

While Ndemic makes it clear that this decision was made completely out of their control, they haven’t given up just yet. The company says that they’re looking for a way to get the game reinstated. With over 130 million players, Plague Inc. was the most popular paid game in China. Although the removal of Plague Inc. from the Chinese App Store is a major shakeup, Ndemic says it won’t impact their ongoing support and upcoming plans for the game.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a young journalist from Maryland, who likes to game. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge Scream nerd and film fanatic that will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_