- Pandemic will no longer feature among this week’s Epic Game Store freebies.
- The free download has been pushed back to “a later date.”
- The decision seemingly motivated by coronavirus concerns. But there’s an even more cynical explanation.
Late last week, Epic Games uncharacteristically announced this week’s Epic Store freebies ahead of the usual Thursday reveal.
Epic penciled in a trio of digital board games from Asmodee Digital to land on the Epic Games Store for free. The games were Pandemic: The Board Game, Carcasonne, and Ticket to Ride.
Pandemic asks players to curb the spread of four infectious diseases as part of a crack team of globe-trotting disease control specialists. You need to simultaneously quarantine infected patients, halt the diseases ’advance, and find a cure. Humanity’s fate is in your hands.
The parallels to the coronavirus epidemic are clear. It’s not unreasonable to assume Epic’s decision to remove Pandemic from this week’s freebie haul stems from a desire to avoid exacerbating rising panic over the spread of the virus.
Or, more cynically, pad its coffers thanks to a morbid interest in similar games. The public has flocked to the similarly apocalyptic sim, Plague Inc. , in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Either way, the game won’t feature, but we can expect it in the future. In the meantime, Farming Simulator is free to download until Thursday .
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