Chinese government backs Fruit Ninja-style game about killing viruses amid coronavirus outbreak

The public education game, whose Chinese name translates to 'battle of pathogens', aims to help communicate epidemic prevention tips to players. It was co-launched by a local government department in China with official newspaper People’s Daily and developed by ByteDance subsidiary Ohayoo. — SCMP

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to spread across China, a local government department has teamed up with an official newspaper and a casual gaming studio to create a game where players fight outsize cartoon viruses with disinfectant and N95 masks.

The game, launched on Feb 17, was initiated by the publicity department of the Haidian District Committee in Beijing and People’s Daily, an official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Casual gaming studio Ohayoo, a subsidiary of TikTok-owner ByteDance, helped develop the game whose Chinese name translates to “battle of pathogens”.