The World Health Organisation is advising everyone to play video games to combat social isolation during the COVID-19 crisis. Activision Blizzard, YouTube and Big Fish Games are among the industry leaders launching a new campaign called #PlayApartTogether an initiative with WHO to tout video games as a healthy activity to avoid spreading COVID-19.
The campaign is a way to remind everyone of the importance of social distancing to avoid spreading the coronavirus, but also giving people a way to feel connected with each other remotely.
Each of the game industry leaders participating in the initiative is encouraging its users to follow the WHO’s health guidelines, which include physical distancing, hand hygiene, respiratory etiquette and other preventive actions people can take to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Around 18 video game companies have joined the initiative with the World Health Organization (WHO). These companies include Dirtybit, Pocket Gems, Activision Blizzard, Big Fish Games, Kabam, Amazon Appstore, Riot Games, Jam City, Maysalward, SciPlay, Playtika, Zynga, YouTube Gaming, Twitch, Wooga, Unity, Glu Mobile, and Snap Games.
WHO Ambassador for global strategies Ray Chambers said that the world is in a very dangerous situation due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Even though we never expected WHO to ever recommend gaming, Chambers did say that WHO supports the #PlayApartTogether to make people follow social distancing and stay connected to each other. He concluded his statement by saying that the initiative will help in following the imposed lockdown and save millions from getting exposed to the virus.