'Pandemic' Will Apparently Be Removed From The Switch eShop This July

Because it was too fun and addictive. Ruining too many families and destroying many careers.

Maybe because it helped fuel their cash cow and now they don't need it.

If it's because of COVID, someone should be smacked. That would be ridiculous imo.

"multitude of reasons that we cannot disclose"

The best you can do eh?

They're trying to end the "Pandemic" by any means necessary

Well, at least the Switch version is getting proper heads-up, might yet be able to grab it myself in the meantime. Press F for Steam, mobile and XBox users, though. Forget reasons, why has the industry been all over the place when it comes to disclosing the basic delisting dates? Unless it's as prosaic as the respective communications being understaffed due to, well... the factors ironically similar to the subject of the game at hand.

I just bought it. It's 50% off here in the US. DLC is discounted as well. Sale ends today though.

@invictus4000 Yes, those pesky woksters. They create delicious stir fried meals, but also complain so much.

I would love to hear the real reason. Could be censorship or could be coincidence.

Any journalists around?

[crickets]

@Solomon_Rambling People get canceled for things they’ve done in other decades. There are people that get cancelled posthumously. All it takes is the wrong person to be exposed to the content and make a fuss.

That said, it could also be a coincidence, but without any diligence we’ll likely never know.

I suppose folk will be panic buying this game like it was toilet paper now!

@GrailUK I suppose folk will be panic buying this game like it was toilet paper now!
That will be truly pandemic....

This games should be all requirements for anyone going into the Health Field to play to get hands on experiences. It's a game simulation but one that all walk of life should play to learn what it takes.

Asmodee is most likely just reworking digital side of their business and copy rights re-shuffling forced this to happen.

Maybe they are stepping on the hands of: Outbreak: Epidemic eShop games and lost the court battle...

Controversy sells.
This game was released shortly before a real global pandemic broke out, bringing more attention to a mediocre board-to-video game than it would have otherwise received.
I remember a fair amount of people were talking about this game back in 2020 for various reasons.
I haven't heard anything about this game in at least a year, and I completely forgot that it existed.
Now the game is being delisted for what are most likely very boring corporate reasons. But, there's a business opportunity here.
Rather than quietly delisting it everywhere all at once and only addressing this after the fact, Asmodee has removed (willingly or reluctantly) a few different versions of the game, and then announced the dates the remaining versions will no longer be available for purchase.
And rather than give an explanation (whether or not they are legally able to), they simply state that they cannot disclose the reasons, and allow people's imaginations to run wild with thoughts of mysterious shadowy forces swooping in to take our video games away.
Now there are articles on gaming news sites, and people are talking about Pandemic again on social media.
This gives Asmodee the opportunity to eke out some last minute sales as people panic buy the game for fear of missing out, or in protest of censorship and cancel culture.
And because they never explained why, they get to look virtuous to some (for delisting such a profitable game for vague moral reasons), and like a victim of censorship to others.

And that, my friends, is how you turn boring legal junk, like deciding not to renew your license for a game that is no longer profitable, into free publicity and viral marketing to generate sales.

@Solomon_Rambling People are complaining about a lot of things for stupid reasons. E.g. Tabletop Simulator lost global chat because a troll made it look like the word filter is homophobic (and was somehow slapped with the "transphobic" label for no reason during that). Or the Diversity Day episode of The Office US was removed from TV circulation because Michael Scott was horribly racist in it while trying hard not to be racist (maybe that one hit too close to home for some "anti-racists").
So yeah, maybe Pandemic is being pulled simply because it's a game about a pandemic. Never mind that the players are supposed to stop it. I remember playing it once (physical version) and I think to win the game one must develop a vaccine and a cure, so conspiracy theorists could say that the game promotes an idea that vaccines alone are not good enough. But I may be misremembering.

It wasn’t that good. Very poor “tutorial” and unclear instructions, almost like the devs assumed you would already know how to play.

But yeah I’m sure this is all part of a global conspiracy and where are the real journalists and WoKE ShEePLe blah blah blah

Crown virus. That’s all I have to say is crown virus. 🤦‍♂️

It's more likely due to the impending takeover of Asmodee by Embracer AB (aka THQ Nordic).

@InvisiBulbasaur "Rather than quietly delisting it everywhere all at once and only addressing this after the fact, Asmodee has removed (willingly or reluctantly) a few different versions of the game, and then announced the dates the remaining versions will no longer be available for purchase."
If they still have the rights to sell the Switch version (in all likelihood, because it was released later), why should they delist it at the same time as all other versions? And if this gradual delisting were just a clever trick to sell a few more copies, wouldn't they leave the Steam version for last, since it's the one with the biggest potential market?
And it seems to me like the reason for their silence about their reasons may well be the same "very boring corporate reasons" you mention as a reason for the delisting: a Non-Disclosure Agreement, quite probably.
Even your low stakes, non-paranoid conspiracy theory seems unlikely to me.

@invictus4000 pretty sure they can’t disclose the reasons.

Yeah, this isn’t an article I would have enabled comments on lol

I really like the board game; super fun with three friends. Is the Switch version couch co-op or some online-only nonsensory?

Glad I have the cardboard version. Publishers will never take that away from me 🙂

@invictus4000 "The word 'pandemic' is now too scary for the woksters."
What do Chinese chefs have to do with this?

If this was made in late 2020 or last year then I could see the reason for controversy. But this was released before the pandemic. Reminds me of Disney renaming slave 1 ( boba and jango fetus ship from Star Wars) even though it had nothing to do with slavery.

It's being removed from gamepass and delisted in all stores as well, but it's still going strong on the board game's publishers website ... so let me postulate. This is a publishing contract dispute. The game publisher thinks they have the right to publish all new versions of "Pandemic" Z-man games is coming up with while Z-man games is saying the publishing contract isn't even with them, it is with "Pandemic" ... a shell spin off they came up with that controls only the base game so they could literally do exactly that. I bet the contract even clearly states the rights to publish "this and all future versions of the pandemic board game" but because the signee isn't "Z-man", Z-man is getting a new publisher for a new video game. This is ... an insanely common tactic.

For all the tinfoil hat people, not only would this had happened in 2021 if it had anything to with COVID-19, but there is a freaking COVID-19 edition of this game you can buy! You know what? I even bet the contract dispute is BECAUSE they are trying to self publish the COVID-19 edition as a video game for a quick cash in.

Also this game is not and never has been that popular in digital format. It is the MUCH more popular "Plague Inc" that people were buying and using to try and model COVID, to the point where they issued a statement and paused sales for bit, but it's not going anywhere.

This is about money. It always is.

@Munchlax It’s not a matter of treating everything like it’s a conspiracy, it’s a matter of lies, censorship, and obfuscation being absolute par for course today. It’s not conspiracy thinking to ask appropriate questions or to speculate when answers are not forthcoming.

It’s likely nothing, but it’s not definitely nothing.

EDIT: @HeadPirate lays out what it likely all is in the comment above, and to my point, why isn’t NintendoLife doing the diligence? Don’t blame people for asking obvious questions and malign they when NL is the one stirring the pot and in the appropriate position to give answers.

@Kochambra Hey, I never said this whole thing was just a clever ruse to sell more copies.
I'm sure they would have preferred to save the most profitable version for last, as I said in the portion of my comment which you quoted, they may have reluctantly delisted the initial versions.
As you said, the different versions are most likely being delisted in the same order they were released.
There are certainly elements at play here that are outside of Asmodee's control.
All I'm saying is that in the realm of business you have to look at everything through the lense of profits vs losses. I see a business trying to generate some profits from a loss. Most likely it would have been more trouble than it was worth to keep the game listed.
Now they're making some last minute sales, because controversy sells. They don't even need to have planned it that way from the beginning for it to be true.
This is hardly a conspiracy theory.

Its nothing to do with the name. Its based on one of the best selling board games of the past decade. I will admit we have gone from playing a game every month or so to not even considering it when we pull out a board game in the last 2 years so that may have effected sales. It may well be a licensing issue, and this seems to be the most likely issue as sales may not have meet expectations when the deal was done due to what been going on for the last couple of years.

I think you guys are overreacting a little too much, at least on 'the reasons why they removed the game' side of things. I'm sure the developers have a good reason why they need to get rid of it. And if not, its not all too much of a big deal. I sincerely doubt if you're here complaining about it, you didn't really play the game. But, for fairness sake, I didn't play it and if you are a fan, I'm sorry. This whole thing is totally overkill and it sucks that you can't share the experience with others anymore. But if you're here suggesting the government is behind this, i think that you may be slightly misinformed. And with the point of FOMO, how can you make money if the game is gone within a day? Eh, that's just what I think. It could very well be Joe Biven and Steve Jobs infecting the virus into the dev team so they irrationally remove the game from all platforms. Both sides are possible.

@blindsquarel i think he was being sarcastic

I'm sure the Covid pandemic will go away from the removal of this lol. Will Murder rates go down if GTA V is pulled?

@nowthisisepic Yes, I was.

@nowthisisepic
Yeah I realized that about five minutes after I made the comment.

I haven’t played the video game, but Pandemic the board game is excellent!

For those that don’t know, it’s a co-op game that slowly escalates as viruses spread globally, and you work together to cure them. I played it with a group of friends on a rainy holiday, and it took us three days to finally win a game! Highly recommend!

I played it on Xbox One, but it was like a demo version, no online multiplayer, almost no tutorials, and in single player was boring, there are no AI Bots as players, so you just play all the players in turns, and in the end for me it was a little bit confusing, I didn't remember each characters' abilities to form a strategy if I played with 3-4 players. Too much potential such a boring result in single player. With more players I play the board game instead.

I’ve always been skeptical of playing digital versions of games I’ve already enjoyed in analogue.. not sure why. Pandemic is a fun little party game in person but I don’t see myself putting time into it online or whatever.

Nice try but you can't delist my board game!

Finally! The pandemic is being removed!

You honestly can't beat the board game, but the price difference between the Switch game and the board game make it a very good option for many.

De-listing must be a licensing issue.

It's not because it's called Pandemic... that's just the worst rationale ever.

@invictus4000 oh take a break. Get out more.

@Spiders They aren't making a fuss, they are just asking obvious questions like "why do we allow a racist and/or homophobe to spread dangerous ideas?".

I bet it’s because they don’t want people to know there’s a way to bring an end to it lol

I strongly believe that this is a licensing dispute. The Switch version was most likely the last released and so will be the last removed. Hence why they can't talk about it due to legal reasons.

If it was cancelled, it would be from a group of elderly conservatives like the type of people who don't want sex, violence or gay representation on tv, not a "woke" crowd. But they would have said something along the lines of: "Due to the current circumstances, we no longer feel comfortable selling a product that is reflective of the death and damage the world has experienced in the last couple of years." There's no reason to not be forthcoming about it. Ergo, licensing issues.

@Judgedean,

Why would it be racist to state where a virus originated, as long as you are not blaming the particular population or it's culture, but just stating a fact.

Although not entirely sure if your comment was supposed to be sarcastic in some way.

@nocdaes We just had an article calling for Nintendo to not allow a game on their platform for referencing an internet meme. It’s not the worst rationale to think ‘Pandemic’ might contain something offensive like “a virus that leaked from a lab” or “promote vaccine hesitancy” or something.

That “worst rationale ever” is in effect in so many facets of media right now, why doubt the doubters?

That said, this is not the case as the comment section did actual journalistic work and got to the bottom of it.

Well gotta get it before they shaft us on eShop...

@TanukiTrooper Ergo, licensing issues.
I expected as much with their silence would indicate legal licensing troubles.

I bet it's full of damning predictive programming lol

I wouldn't be surprised if it's a public relations thing. Maybe they got a few letters from easily offended people who probably don't even play games.

1st person: "Take this as a grain of salt but I bet it's probably getting removed because of X"

2nd person: "I read on this site that the game is being removed because of X"

3rd person: "Woooow ok, the game is being removed because of X??? More Political agenda nonsense!!"

Oh how quickly the cycle of disinformation can spread once a few people start trying to guess at the reason something is being removed. If we don't know, we don't know... that's it.

@Spiders "We just had an article calling for Nintendo to not allow a game on their platform for referencing an internet meme."

What article was that?

@ATaco Disinformation implies that it is a deliberate lie, this is just people speculating (and some are joking) as to what the reason for this game's removal is. Nothing wrong with that unless someone claims one of the above reasons is the definitive truth. Like you said, we don't know the true reason, people are just guessing.

@Tourtus I might be a bit too cynical from seeing people who are actually very serious when they write stuff like this but...The second comment in on this very article doesn't look like speculation or a joke.

@johnvboy They’re referencing the fact that in 2020 it was considered racist to suggest that SARS-CoV-2 leaked from the lab in China, and pretty much was until the mountain of evidence for the “hypothesis” came out.

@DrDaisy https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/01/random-pandemic-shooters-eshop-page-makes-you-wonder-if-anyone-at-nintendo-checks-these-things

@ATaco Disinformation? Good grief. People are speculating because 1) Nintendolife did zero diligence to provide a reason or explanation and 2) we are conditioned for things to be cancelled and censored, sometimes under the label “misinformation” — though I think I preferred when it was called “fake news” — people talking and speculating is neither.

Thankfully the comment section put forth reasonable explanations that had to do with licensing issues, but it wouldn’t have been an interesting thing to look into if not for the fact it could have gone another way.

@Munchlax
They have every authority to "cancel" their own game; it happens all the time. Remember Star Fox 2 before the minis came out. Albeit this is unique in having cancel a game after it has already been released. In the old days, they would just 'go out of print'.

I can all but guarantee that this has nothing to do with the word “pandemic” or the theme of the game. And for those saying this is due to people being too woke . . . What? Since when is it not woke to talk about or acknowledge the existence of a pandemic. Unless I’m mistaken the woke people weren’t the ones saying it was nothing more than a common cold

Reports about removing from store due to undisclosable reasons...that's like free advertisement for an average game and re-releasing it like a brand new game with a bit of additional average content in the future.

@Drb The way the coronavirus was politicized in the US was along the left-right axis, and the left supports/suffers woke culture.

Now there is a lot of confusion and conflation around cancel culture and censorship so it’s pretty much guilty by association. Better to say there is an energy in Western culture that wants to control information and discussion. It exists on the left and the right, among the woke and the anti-woke.

I don’t blame anyone who assumes any “cancel” or censorship is rooted in some woke nonsense, because that’s been the trend for the last 6-7 years. If there is a coherent woke culture and they want to distance themselves from wholesale “Ministry of Information” type accusations, they’ve made strange allies in corporate media and government propaganda.

That said, “woke” being a catch-all for any and all media shenanigans is a problem.

Gonna buy a Steam code for fun. Costs only 1$.

@JaneBear people are allowed to discuss a wild arange of topics.

@Arkay Sure. Never said they can’t. I’m merely suggesting there are more effective places to have certain discussions. Nothing nefarious.

@JaneBear I see, got it.

Emulation will preserve this game beyond the petty legalities.

@ATaco In the scenario you presented they all believe the same (variable)thing

@Spiders I think your last sentence has effectively made the point that "the left" nor "wokeness" has little to do with any of this, and more that reactionaries are more than capable of creating noise and divisiveness without any external influence.

Like, just look at invictus4000's initial comment: Completely unprovoked, he reveled in the idea that "wokesters" and "big brother" were behind this, despite that making absolutely no sense given the context of the last 2 years.

This also isn't getting into how "cancel culture" and the like isn't exclusive to left-leaning folks, but that's getting too in the weeds for what should be a site talking about video game-related stuff...

"For "reasons" the publisher cannot disclose"

Yeah right probably plagiarism

@Shiesty which is the problem, since it's not even confirmed. It stemmed from the first person who speculated something. By the time it reaches the last person, the speculation has circulated to the point that that person considers it fact even though it may very well not be.

Then again if the article wasn't worded the way it was then this wouldn't even be an issue. Looks like they definitely coaxed the conversation to this pointless angle, instead of it being a PSA to pick up this game if you're interested before it leaves the shop.

@PoliticallyIncorrect there is only one dlc that is paid the other two were free.
Also if you like this game you should try plague inc. one is free and the other is 15 bucks atm. Good games.

@EVIL-C any smart person labels it all as it is. Doesn’t matter if it’s woke or socialism or communism or far left or right. I code one call it like it is period. I care less who’s feelings I hurt in doing so as well also. Simply put, if their going to talk the talk the they need to walk the walk. I’m open to any discussions but everyone has a platform.

Asmodee out here with the subtlety of a roaring 16 wheeler that's also on fire.

@Gamepro500 Damn, how did Covid get the copyrights to Pandemic!

Some people can't take a joke.

Why can't we make fun of a virus or current event that's happening? Is it possible that joking about it helps ease the tension of the situation and possibly help people find some light during this outbreak; or do people care more about virtue signaling and pretending that they're speaking for the minority when they don't even know what those people are going through, rather than letting those people have some joy once in a while?

This generation is truly hopeless if it fails to understand the point of comedy in its purest form without being deeply offended by it.

@SeantheDon29 I do truly hope you don't get bombed with hate comments, as your speaking truth, 2020, was really rough, it was stressful on me, and many other people, poking fun at it, kind helps, for me anyway.

@Snatcher Meh, I'm not worried about it. If people on this site aren't mature enough to handle a dissenting opinion, then there's no reason to waste my time here replying to them, anyway.

Stay strong and God bless.

@SeantheDon29 You to.

I am honestly apathetic and nonplussed about this. "Sorry". shrug

@Spiders sorry, but it's utter nonsense. Nintendo are not that sensitive, and what about Steam?

What's next? A ban on the latest Bond film?

If there was even the faintest bit of truth in this, why would it be removed in Summer 2022 and not sooner?!

@Spiders,

Which would still not be racist, even if somebody assumed it had with little or no evidence as that would just be an opinion as opposed to a fact, unless of course they used some racist slur against the Chinese people or persons within their statement/comment.

@SeantheDon29 Great comment, I think Ricky Gervais said something like that last week too.

There is lots of benefits to people laughing and smiling.

You know, i think is a real shame that this game is getting removed. It is a kinda educational game when you think about it, not many games teaches you how a pandemic is handled professionally.

@Dark_Isatari it would be great to get Pandemic Legacy digitally. Just so you can replay the game with different abilities and make different choices instead of it being a one time playthrough.

It's almost certainly a rights issue with the digital form of the game. Z Man Games published the board game in the US back in 2008 - its almost certainly an issue that stems from them... something along the lines of... "your digital game is impacting sales of our physical", perhaps even with a little mix of "our rights should encompass the digital/ the agreement didn't say about digital".

It has nothing to do with the name... it's money, and it's a publisher feud.

You know... all the success the game has enjoyed off the back of Covid, I expect Z Man Games have struggled to create enough physical copies of the board games and that's what's fuelled their issue with the digital.

The fact the game IS being removed, suggests they have won a legal dispute on the matter. I suspect the game will return in due course, but with a different publisher !

"The pandemic is over" would have been a great title for this news

@Munchlax what!? Nooooo, please let the conspiracy theorists wear their tinfoil hats just a little bit longer. They look incredibly adorable trying to form coherent thoughts in it!

@Judgedean well i mean it's just sticking to historical norms because if im not mistaken, most of our global pandemics have come from China.

It isn't racist if it's literally facts.

I'd rather have it removed from my life.

@Sasuke94 shh Pfizer is listening...

@Exciter89 that’s a good point. Risk legacy too

WE DID IT BOYZ WE DEFEATED CORONA

This decision was made with a heavy heart for a multitude of reasons that we cannot disclose.

Isn't this where an actual journalist would push for more information rather than just take what they are told?

Lots of people in here very seriously telling others that they can't take jokes, after they worked themselves up over an article that was very non-specific.

Get your tin foil, get your tin foil right here folks!

Surprised no comments here (that I found) point out that Asmodee was bought recently. It is likely that their license to sell a digital game based on Pandemic ends if the publishing company changes hands. This is all probably just contractual stuff. Asmodee would probably like to continue to publish this game but the new company must negotiate a new deal.

@Nameless_Shame It's exactly the same as the board game but I prefer the board game. The text is really hard to read in the game. I believe it is local co-op. I think the one benefit to the game is being able to play it by yourself without friends around. When you have friends around, I recommend just playing the board game, it's better in every aspect.

I believe this has absolutely nothing to do with the theme or name. This board game has been around many years before Covid-19 even existed. My thought is that they lost the rights to the game by the owners of the board game.

The board game is superior to the video game in almost every capacity. The only thing I recommend about the video game version is that you can play single player if your friends aren't around to play the board game. If you have even one friend around, stick to the board game.

On a totally unrelated note, I wish I would have purchased the 10th Anniversary Edition of the Board Game that came out back in 2018. It came in a really cool "med-kit" looking case and had upgraded pieces, as well as a different looking board that I actually prefer. I guess I'll stick with the original game since this edition jumped up into the $100-$200 range when Covid-19 hit.

@DTFaux I totally agree, and it’s a problem that we knee-jerk label and categorize everything into inappropriate categories.
For example, it’s very strange here in the US that the media paints the “anti-vax” (which covers people who are vaccinated but against mandates to bolster my point) as Trump supporting anti-science racists, yet Black Lives Matter correctly points out that vaccine mandates are problematic as the unvaccinated are disproportionately Black Americans and the mandates disproportionately affect minorities. Labeling and categorizing is supposed to be a crude way to make quick sense of things, and it’s been weaponized against us by the media and the public who trade in those terms.

But all that said, there is a “boy who cried wolf” quality to all of this as well. Unfortunately cancel culture is a “paid by the bullet” model and there’s no consequence for missing the target, so it makes sense that there are countless ridiculous attempts being made to find problems where there aren’t all the time, so it also makes sense to suspect, or at least be open to the idea that every censor or cancel is the result of some viral tweet or Tik Tok until it’s clearly otherwise. It’s an exhausting way to think, but it’s not irrational and certainly not mock-worthy.

@riChchestM I’m more surprised it’s not in the “article”.

@Crono1973 Yes, yes it is.

@SuperZeldaFun I don’t see any originating in China, save the SARS-CoV-1 and, let’s face it the cat is out of the bag, SARS-CoV-2.

Either way, I agree it’s not racist, though I found the “wet market theory” to be incredibly racist and offensive.

I see the weirdos are out in force again. Genuinely surprised mods haven’t taken down the person who’s clearly trolling though, but then again it’s hard to tell the difference between trolling and being just a genuine idiot these days. This is 99.999999% copyright issues due to the fact you need a license to remain in print adapting board games, especially with their pending acquisition by THQ Nordic. But of course it’s ‘the left’ cancelling everything.

Not entirely unrelated to this comment section: does anyone know how to cancel the email comment notifications? I don’t need reminders for this

@Solomon_Rambling @Munchlax

The comment about "what 3rd party" is very important.
"Cancelled" isn't a thing, especially not in a case like this.

As a statement on context, it's important to understand that fascist movements are real, and fascism works by scaring the people with the most power into thinking they are actually victims, that they are being "discriminated" against by progressive thinking. That's why when Dr. Suess' wife made a personal and independent discussion to stop publishing two books, something literally no one had asked her to do, all of a sudden she was "cancelled", woke PC cancel culture gone mad I tell you!

Nintendo has almost zero power to pull a game from the E-shop for content. They have two options; they can claim the game is rated wrong because some sexual or violent content wasn't disclosed in the pre-rating and/or wasn't part of the build that gat rated, which delists the game until it can reapply for rating.

The second is a TOS violation, which has a bit of leeway for directly inflammatory content but they have to be super careful about applying this equally to all games or they can get sued.

So who could possibly "cancel" this game? Who is the "they" who has a problem? Why do "they" have any power? Why wouldn't the publisher simply say "they" are forcing us to do this to build support? There is no logical reason to assume some 3rd party influenced this, and every possible reason to think that's highly unlikely.

But the comments are always going to go to "cancelled" first because a movement benefits from you being afraid and Nintendolife isn't going to get any engagement on an article about something that every single person at the office knows is an every day contract dispute, so they need to spice it up.

I've worked in general and game reporting before. This article is a thing because the editor in chief saw a game named pandemic getting delisted and said "Who thinks they can write an article about this game being delisted that doesn't flat out lie, but is still going to make everyone flip out about cancel culture?"

It's not negligence that they didn't include details. They are just doing their jobs. We just have to remember that job isn't journalism, it's getting people worked so they have high engagement numbers to show to advertisers.

Will wait for another sale again to get this.

@Drb Go to your account and you can find it in account settings.

I don't recall anti-vaxxers being considered racists, but there has been a lot of overlap with them being Trump supporters and anti-science as (at least in the US) Trump himself was effectively "patient zero" of doubting professionals, followed by his ilk echoing that sentiment long after the fact. And the reason why anti-mandate crowds get looped in with anti-vaxxers, is because it results in the same problem. If people were willing to get vaccinated from the jump, mandates wouldn't be necessary. But if they want to make the personal choice to not get vaxxed, then others have the right to put up with the health risk or liability.

And the BLM person who was calling the mandates problematic definitely misses the point and intention of the mandates, which is to push back against a virus that doesn't racially discriminate. I don't blame their initial concern considering other legitimately ongoing systemic issues that still need addressing (and their suspicion considering NY's mixed history), but pragmatically, getting vaccinated would make this a non-issue while also have the added benefit of protecting a lot of people.

I'd say it's less "boy who cried wolf" and more "selective ignorance fueled by political bias and/or lack of empathy [until a situation personally affects them]". Yes, there is a problem with people taking issues over the littlest things (not exclusive to the left), but that doesn't justify willful ignorance or malice in way of becoming a reactionary. Critical thinking - and especially empathy - is crucial in cutting through the noise, not being taken advantage of by bad actors and grifters, and not pigeonholing one's self into a position that might ultimately cause harm to one's self or others around them.

@Spiders Thanks. I read that article before. I don't know how it skipped my mind.

@DTFaux Maybe certain people in certain groups dont want to take a vaccine for a virus which they are, statistically, unlikely to have many bad side effects from.

Im a proud child of a single black mother. Im also under the age of thirty and have no pre-existing conditions. I had covid LAST YEAR. My aversion to the vaccine has nothing to do with my race group. In my age and condition group, any vaccination on my part would be strictly symbolic.
And i aint planning on “symbolizing” adherence to a scientific medical establishment which has experimented on people like me with impunity for decades and got away with it, up to and including the greatest experiment in human history, the lockdowns of 2020 which Trump OPENLY SUPPORTED AND ENCOURAGED. The lockdown experiment which COST ME MY JOB AND MY MOM HER LIFE.
FOR A DISEASE WITH A DEATH RATE LESS THAN ONE PERCENT.

But alas, i will reign myself in from all the politics talk. I dont want to start a flame war.
Just please please please dont be so ignorant dude. Many people like myself are skeptical of every pandemic mitigation effort at this point and with good reason.

Its just kinda hard for me to view big pharma as saviors of humanity when my mother died of prescription drug overdose and i couldnt visit her in the hospital.
Thats bs, any way you slice it.

@InsideOutsideUpside I'm sorry for your loss of job and mother's life, but you're hiding behind a lot of bad faith reasons to be anti-vaxx.

1) Considering you can supposedly get Covid more than once (due to variants and on top of other illnesses), it's recommended to get vaccinated because people younger and healthier than you have either died or are stuck dealing with "Long Covid." Vaccination among the earlier variants helped reduce the spread, and keeps you out of the hospital with recent. Getting immunized is pragmatic as it lessens the strain on the healthcare sector, and is no more "symbolic" than any other shot you got in your life (tetanus, measles, etc.).

2) Supposedly, that "Less than 1% death rate" statistic isnt even accurate 2+ years into this thing. Even humoring that stat, that's roughly 1 out of 100 people dying to this thing. Considering how less of a chance you have to be taken out in other ways (or win any contest), those are terrible odds.

3) I get the skepticism, considering past aggressions (I, too, am familiar with the Tuskeegee experiments, etc.), but that doesnt give you a blanket excuse to ignore basic health and science that is both available, and dumbed down in the most simplest of terms.

4) Viruses are egalitarian in the worst ways possible. They dont care how you feel about "big pharma", your politics, your conspiracy theories, your skepticism, nor your ethics/morals. Logic and science are the only ways to deal with it.

It's insulting that you're assuming my ignorance when I want to get back to a true normal as badly as anyone else. I feel for your personal circumstance, and even understand where you're coming from... but it says a lot that you cant extend the same amount of empathy towards everyone else also impacted by this pandemic. Multiplied by so many others who carry the same line of thinking is why it feels like we're no closer to getting out of this.

The 2+ years of this has worn down my patience for people who hide their own ignorance, paranoia, and selfishness under the guise of skepticism and a misplaced sense of ethics/morality.

I only have room left for loved ones, the immunocompromised, kids too young to get the shot, and all the professionals stuck dealing with anti-vaxxers/anti-mandate folks. Best of luck everyone else. (I cant believe I had to get into the weeds about a pandemic on a Nintendo site...)

@DTFaux Im “hiding” behind reasons to be antivax.
Lol ok dude.

Look man, im sorry but i just cant argue with someone who believes long covid exists, and, despite all evidence, that the death toll is UNDER-exaggerated. I just cant do it.
Its like arguing with someone from a different planet.
I do apologize for calling you ignorant though. You know exactly what you want and you want it badly, and you know exactly why you want it. Its the illusion of control. Same as the cloth masks, which do not work and have never worked as well as n95. But the symbolism of the act is to sanctifying to the wearer. Y’all just need Jesus.

I just want to ask you one more question. Do you agree or disagree with point number one of the nuremburg code?
If you disagree you are placing yourself amongst the greatest monsters in history.
Period.

Doubt its related to the not pandemic. We've been in 15 days to stop the spread for over 2 years and are at a point that no one in a free state cares. I doubt this game has enough exposure to warrant backlash of any kind.

@nocdaes Whats’s utter nonsense? I’m not saying this game was “cancelled” or censored... it’s pretty clear it’s a licensing issue (thanks to the comment detectives!).

I’m saying that the default assumption of some, that it was “woke” chicanery is defensible (if lamentable), and that Nintendolife should have done their homework if they strive to be more than a clickbait blog.

@DTFaux It's an article about 'Pandemic', not sure what you expected;)
Kidding aside, that's a bunch of really nasty things to say to @InsideOutsideUpside!

1a) IOU has natural immunity from infection. That should be the end of the conversation. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.08.24.21262415v1

1b) Vaccines did not stop the spread, and it's dubious as to how they could have slowed them.
https://www.ucdavis.edu/health/covid-19/news/viral-loads-similar-between-vaccinated-and-unvaccinated-people

2) 1-in100? Not even close. In the UK right now it's 18-in-1,000,000
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-deaths

3) It doesn't give you an excuse to be skeptical? What has changed sinced Tuskeegee?

4) SARS-CoV-2 is the least egalitarian virus since the chicken pox/shingles! It affects men and women differently, old and young differently, it affects different body types differently, some people are asymptomatic, some people get "long covid" (which is still debatable as a diagnosis and not a triggering of an already known and classified ailment... the only thing we know for sure is 'long covid' is a medical billing code.)

You still think this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated? You're being ignorant, lacking empathy, and need to update your software. It's not January 2021.
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/vaccines/international

I think you're making the right decisions for you and your family by the sound of it... I'm not anti-vaccination by a long shot, but you're reasoning and lashing out doesn't sound like a compassionate and well-informed person to me. It sounds like a vaccine fanboy who wants everyone to agree their system of choice is the best.

God bless you @InsideOutsideUpside, your story his heart-breaking and I'm sorry for what you've gone through. You shouldn't have to be attacked for sharing and making up your own mind about you and your family's health and circumstances.

@Spiders In the vein of trying to be respectful and transparent, I'll just say... duly noted.

I tried to avoid getting into the weeds when I was originally responding to you (mainly staying around rhetoric and pragmatism), and the other guy injected his initial tirade into our conversation, which I intended to wash my hands of this conversation after I responded to him (dude's invoking Jesus and referring to the Nuremburg Code, and there's no helping that).

It's not even about being a "vaccine fanboy." The initial frustration was seeing people find every excuse and conspiracy theory to disregard precautions that would've helped starve the virus (as this isnt our first pandemic rodeo). It's kinda too late for that now, but at least we can minimize deaths and illnesses to relieve pressure from various industries (including the healthcare sector) if enough folks get vaccinated and/or adhere to precautions... but expectations were too high there too.

I try to be sympathetic and empathetic where I can (I too would rather not go back to lockdowns), but having known folks who either died from Covid or are under occupational stress due to the pandemic, because we cant band together and get this over with, has me emotionally tapped out for those who care more about being what they perceive to be right (fighting against "controlled"), rather than doing what's pragmatically right (assuring as few people get sick and die as possible).

With all due respect, I'm ejecting myself out of this thread because I dont like getting too deep into matters that become removed from gaming on a site about Nintnedo gaming news. This was a rare exception, and I already regret it.

@DTFaux That’s a much more understandable position and truly I blame the internet and the way conversations tend to go on us being so confrontational.
I think we agree on a lot of core principles, but I think rather than blaming some group of people that we can’t all pull in the same direction, we should be more critical of the strategy itself.

Also, I’m not a big “conspiracy” person. I started March 2020 as an essential worker, and I was in a position to drag my own store’s lockdown well into July and way passed what the higher-ups wanted.
I believed in “flatten the curve”, I believed in “stay at home stop the spread”, I prayed the vaccines would work. I still believe in masking and social distance, even if they’ve been proven to be 10-15% effective, because there is a common sense to it, and all the social behaviors it guides in one’s personal space.

Vaccination has failed to end the pandemic, and maybe your right that we had a chance and missed it. Maybe if we had a strict two month lockdown and the government subsidized a real “pause”, we could have eradicated. We don’t know. I think I agree with you that could have worked.

I have little patience for conspiracy thinking too, but what happens when the conspiracies come true? The fact is these vaccines are not what we were sold, and we have a public health system that is more interested in fighting vaccine hesitancy than preventing the deleterious effects of COVID-19. I don’t think that’s a conspiracy, it’s just what happens when capitalism is the best tool to solve big problems. It’s a “when you have a hammer...” problem, and vaccines are the hammer, and post-Omicron we’re just not in the world of nails anymore.

At this point in time, I don’t blame anybody for how they feel about anything. We’re all trapped in these filter bubbles and are getting our information from political sources. It’s really bad.

For example, the strongest case for vaccinations is the hospitals being overloaded. What would you think if you knew, at least in the US, that that problem has been on record since the 2018 flu season? It has nothing to do with COVID, and everything to do with the unprofitability of ICU beds. At least in the US. So vaccines are the solution for that and not more ICU beds and staff!? That is where we are going to pull in different directions because we have different solutions to the same problem — but we’re both concerned about the same things and shouldn’t be against each other, but for each other.

I hope you’re not to put off to read this. I appreciate your POV, and @InsideOutsideUpside ‘s, and I hope you can appreciate mine.

"The Pandemic app was released 9 years ago, and we no longer feel the current quality and reliability of the game is on par with what Pandemic deserves on digital platforms," Asmodee said. "The time has come to make way for the digital future of Pandemic. "