Article content

SHANGHAI — Strategy simulation game “Plague Inc.,” which surged in popularity in China when the coronavirus epidemic first started, has been removed from the China app store after regulators said it contained illegal content, its developer said on Thursday.

The game, which allows users to create and evolve a pathogen to destroy the world, soared to the top of the charts of Apple’s China app store in January, as players turned to disaster-themed content as a coping mechanism.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Chinese regulators remove game 'Plague Inc' from China app stores, developer says Back to video

Players, however, started saying on social media on Thursday that they were no longer able to find the game on China’s app store, which was later confirmed by Plague’s developer and publisher, UK-based Ndemic creations.

“We’ve just been informed that Plague Inc. ‘includes content that is illegal in China as determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China’ and has been removed from the China App Store. This situation is completely out of our control,” Ndemic said in a statement on its website.