In the UK, Candy Crush Is Working to Curb COVID-19
The UK government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is working with multiple gaming devs to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Candy Crush Saga and Dirt Rally 2.0 are among the big names that will run “Stop the Spread” ads in-game to encourage gamers to maintain social distancing while the pandemic continues. King subsidiary has also donated 230 “digital poster” advertising spaces across London in an attempt to help UK residents prevent the spread of COVID-19. Candy Crush is available for most mobile devices, while Dirt Rally 2.0 is available for Xbox One, PS4 and PC now.
The UK government sees video games as a “creative, targeted and immediate” tool to spread the word about safety protocol during the COVID-19 pandemic. Apparently all developers are encouraged by the UK government to help stop the spread by utilizing in-game posters to share the message and it’s likely that more will get on board as the virus continues to spread. Around 37 million UK citizens are gamers and it won’t be long before most of them are seeing some sort of ad to stay at home and save lives.
Candy Crush and Dirt Rally 2.0 aren’t the only games that UK gamers can expect to see ads imploring them to stay home, with Codemasters and Rebellion also implementing some sort of COVID-19 advisory. Although not all of these games will have stay at home ads outside of the UK, it’s likely that if the virus doesn’t die down, many ads will be run across countless regions. Microsoft recently made it easier for gamers in the US to donate to the CDC and we’re hopeful to see more methods of helping the health care workers prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Are you a Candy Crush or Dirt Rally 2.0 fan? Let us know in the comments below!
Source: Engadget