Plague Inc. gets update that lets players spread fake news, not diseases

With the UK preparing for the general election on December 12, Developer Ndemic Creations has rolled a new content update for its hit Plague Inc. It allows players to spread fake news and defamatory statements capable of derailing any political cause.

Just like you would typically spread diseases in Plague Inc., your task now is to propagate misinformation before it is detected by fact-checkers.

When working on the Fake News scenario, Ndemic Creations collaborated with professional fact-checking organizations so as to plausibly offer “a heightened view into the extremes of misinformation and the serious consequences it can have for our democracies, health and society.”

Just like a deadly pandemic, the spread of misinformation is a huge threat to our society. When designing this new update for Plague Inc., it was scary how many of our infection algorithms translated perfectly to the world of false facts, fake news and bad information.

Plague Inc. creator James Vaughan, via Eurogamer.

The Fake News scenario is free for those already owning a copy of Plague Inc. Right now, it is only available on iOS, but the PC, console and Android releases are coming soon.

Plague Inc. is a real-time strategy simulating the creation and spread of a deadly pathogen. It came out on mobile in 2012 to critical acclaim. The PC version was released in 2015, and the console version – a year later. Over 130 million players have installed the game across all platforms. Seven years on, the game continues to have an active fan base due to regular updates, such as the Fake News scenario that cleverly ties in with the current agenda.