People seems to get pretty short-sighted when it comes to their fee-fees.
Okay, let's say GoG bans this game, but why stop here?

Let's ban Postal series - hundreds of people day each year by hands of mass murdereds.
Let's ban This War of Mine - developers making money while thousand of refugees suffer in the world!
Let's ban Hitman - it's glorifying hired killers.

I can write many more examples if you want.

Can we discuss the actual game instead?

I honestly don't understand all the negative reaction with releasing an edutainment game on a currently socially relevant topic.

I also don't like the title too much and the donation of revenue idea is a bit far fetched. But aside from that, what is the problem with people learning a bit about the issue while playing a computer game? I think most people would benefit from enhancing their knowledge about this topic (and I doubt many will read research articles on epidemiology).

I can't judge the quality of the game without playing it, but it doesn't appear to me like a quick cash grab at least from the visuals.

So many great games rejected due to "high standards" in the past, and now you bring here this disgustingly opportunistic piece of garbage?

Very bad taste.

Those are all generic examples not pertaining to anything specific(like a certain k*ller IRL or an actual IRL event that's currently ongoing like in this case).

This game release, imo, is similar to if some soulless devs made a flight sim with cr*shable planes and called it "9/11 memorial game"

People are....about how poor taste they find this game to be. ....of course others like yourself are free to discuss it's other aspects.

Unfortunately the "currently socially relevant topic" has also become the focal point of a violent and progressively weird culture war.
There are also people reeling from the personal impact the situation had on them. I have significantly more understanding for the second group than for the first.

Nevertheless, if more people had more knowledge about pandemics and how to deal with them before this whole mess started, we wouldn't be in this situation. And since the current situation is quite a long way from being over, provided the game does manage a decent edutainment attempt, I'm in favor of it.

They have officially been around since 2017. And yes, while there is a roster of "big names" attached (a cultural problem IMHO elevating the ultra-wealthy to global stewardship) -- and their mission seems legitimate -- the specific "angle of attack" with their antibody studies is IMHO troubling. I'll leave it at that.

If you feel good about donating to CEPI, great. But IMO there are many other charities with "boots on the ground" that help in a much more concrete ways (especially seeing that an adequate vaccine may never be found) and have much longer track records of proven aid to those in need. TBH ATM food, clothing, and direct medical care are much more needed that funds for speculative vaccine research.

I'd sooner pay money to take this game off the storefront. Insta-nope.

People are perfectly fine with Plague Inc where you need to kill humanity with virus.
People are angry at the game where you need to fight COVID to win.

Hypocrite much?

If devs really put some efforts into this game, I don't see any reasons for people to get angry about it.

After this there is no way I'd be 'helping gog' The attempt to make it look like it's for education and to assist research is even more of an insult.

What's next? Oh, I know.How to mug an old lady in a wheel chair. Wouldn't touch this if it was free and they have the hide to ban me for my honesty, well Gog you can stick it up your arse!

The problem -- as I see it -- is that people are dying ATM due to COVID-19 and this game is attempting to generate sales directly from those deaths...

... and I say this as a player of Outbreak and Pandemic.

IMO if this game was released as a generic pandemic scenario game no one would care... but when some have recently lost loved ones from the subject of the game -- and while the pandemic is still raging -- it's just in poor taste.

There is a lot of people dying from a lot of things. Actual war. Gun violence. A lot of games capitalize on those topics explicitly without even trying to remedy any of the issues involved. Sometimes even glorifying the causes to a greater or lesser extent.

As far as I can this game at least attempts to teach about the issues involved. And knowledge is something that makes a huge difference in this situation. It would have made a much bigger difference a few months ago, but still...

If you don't feel comfortable with this game, that's fine. Some other games feel uncomfortable to me but you generally won't see me going all outrage then.

What part of generic examples you don't understand?

Today there are people dying because this virus. Today., now, at this very minute.

Want an example like those you wrote?

It is like if someone creates a game about someone you know that has been killed and while the family is still mourning and crying in frustration, you release a game about that person and make profit with it.

Think about it, because i can't.

Oh, and perhaps go see a docu about people who make profit in times of war. There are many, especially from the WWII times. It's repulsive imo.

And i'm out this is all disgusting as hell

Honestly, feels like a storm in a teacup. This game looks pretty bare and not something I would ever pay for, but it's not a game about spreading the virus, it's about managing the threat and preventing the worst. There are still people out there downplaying the threat. People who don't realize what exponential growth is. If we had more education about the subject, the crisis might have already been over. If this game helps few of them realize how thin the line between "nothing's happening" and "healthcare collapse" is, all the better. I don't know... it might even offer coping mechanism to some affected people - winning over something in my dreams or game when I could do nothing IRL did wonders for a lot of my childhood fears. In short, live and let live. I'm not buying but I have no problem with the game being sold here.