Video games add ‘stay at home’ message
April 6, 2020
A number if video games developers are to display coronavirus safety advice within their titles. Candy Crush Saga, Dirt Rally 2.0 and Sniper Elite 4 are among the first games that will feature the messaging.
The initial ads will focus on the theme: “Stay home. Save lives.” Rebellion – one of the companies involved – also publishes 2000AD among other comics, and has also offered space in these for the government’s campaign.
“I reached out to DCMS [Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport] a few days ago to say is there anything we can do,” Jason Kingsley, chief executive of Rebellion and chair of the games trade body Tiga told the BBC. “A lot of people spend hundreds of hours in computer games. And in this case, we thought we could help society by reminding people of their obligations to others.”
The inclusion of Codemasters’ off-road racing game Dirt Rally 2.0 comes a day before it is included in Sony’s latest PlayStation Plus titles. This should give it a high profile over coming weeks, and ensure many thousands of subscribers see the in-game ads despite the title being released early in 2019.