Plague Inc. is fun, but it’s not an accurate model for the China coronavirus outbreak
Plague Inc. developer Ndemic said the game isn’t a scientific model and makes the eradication of a virus seem too easy
British strategy game Plague Inc. is getting a renewed bout of attention as countries grapple with a deadly new coronavirus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. But both epidemiologists and the game’s developer say that the scenario portrayed in Plague Inc. is unlikely in the real world.
A big reason for this is that game developers simply can’t take all factors into account, according to Kelvin Kam-fai Tsoi, an epidemiologist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“There are a lot of scenarios which are simply unimaginable,” Tsoi said. “For example, we don’t know how long the outbreak had laid dormant in Wuhan. Something like that could exponentially raise the infection percentage.”
He added, “Then we have the Spring Festival, during which people are travelling with the virus on them. Factors like this are not included in the game.”