A wildly popular game that intends to simulate a worldwide epidemic recently had a cosmic surge in popularity "Plague Inc.," as it's known, even became the most popular game on Apple's iPhone app store around the world.
Recently, the game topped Apple's app store chart in China. That's particularly notable because of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, which originated in and has mostly affected China, where more than 78,000 people have been sickened. As of Thursday, though, the app was pulled from China's iPhone app store.
The game's creator, Ndemic Creations, said the game was pulled citing "content that is illegal in China as determined by the Cyberspace Administration of China."
The game's popularity recently spiked amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, but its creators aren't sure if the game being pulled from China's app store has anything to do with that connection.
"It's not clear to us if this removal is linked to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak that China is facing," a statement published by the studio on Thursday morning said. "However, Plague Inc.'s educational importance has been repeatedly recognised by organisations like the CDC and we are currently working with major global health organisations to determine how we can best support their efforts to contain and control COVID-19."