Ndemic Creations
{{AfC topic|otherNdemic Creations is an independent video game developer and self-publisher, founded by James Vaughan in 2012. Its team is based across the world but started in Bristol, England as a solo video game developer company. It’s best known for its real-time strategy and simulation video games. Its first released video game was Plague Inc. which quickly found success as an app game and was later remade into Plague Inc: Evolved for PC and video game consoles.
History
Before Ndemic Creations released its first video game, its founder, James Vaughan, was working as a strategy consultant for a multinational consulting firm in London. He had always had a love for strategy games such as Civilization, Half-Life, StarCraft, Supreme Commander, and XCOM. While he hadn’t worked in the video game or software industries before, he had spent time making maps and scenarios for Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic when he was younger. Back in 2011 while thinking of something to challenge himself with, that would be different and have entrepreneurial elements to it. He started to playing around with a few ideas as to what might fulfill his needs but found that none of them really grabbed him. "Whilst I waited for the perfect idea to come along, I decided to be a bit more creative and make a mobile game as a hobby. Like many people, I've always had loads of game ideas and I thought it would be cool to actually make some of them a reality." His intentions were to do this for fun and not to make money, so this set his ambitions low. He had read a lot of things on the internet as to how hard it was to be successful in the video game mobile app store and so he made sure to not get his hopes up. James figured out that his criteria for his app game was to be "very simple - make and release a game that I was proud of. My stretch goal was to not make a loss on the game i.e. make back my development costs of more than $5,000."[1]
James Vaughan did eventually find inspiration for an app game from the 2011 film, Contagion and the 2008 browser game Pandemic 2. This led to him working for nearly a year on the game that would end up being called Plague Inc. which came out in May of 2012. It quickly became a success in the app stores and according to James, it had been downloaded over 10 million times worldwide by April 2013.[2]
In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Ndemic Creations made a $250,000 donation to support global health efforts, with funds distributed to the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. Company founder James Vaughan stated that he "never imagined the real world would come to resemble a game of Plague Inc." The studio collaborated with health experts from WHO and CEPI to create a new Plague Inc. game mode that focuses on disease prevention and healthcare management rather than pathogen spread, offering it free to players during the pandemic. This mode incorporates real-world public health strategies including social distancing, quarantine protocols, and healthcare system management.[3][4]
Games
| Year | Title | Platform(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Plague Inc. | iOS - May 2012
Android - October 2012 Windows Phone - May 2015 |
|
| 2015 | Plague Inc: Evolved | Xbox One - September 2015
Windows, MacOS, Linux - February 2016 PlayStation 4 - May 2016 Nintendo Switch - August 2019 |
|
| 2018 | Rebel Inc. (video game) | iOS - December 2018
Android - February 2019 Windows - October 2019 |
|
| 2024 | After Inc. | Android, iOS - November 26, 2024 | In Early Access |
| 2025 | After Inc: Revival | Windows - June 17, 2025 |
References
- ↑ Parkin, Simon (2013-03-12). "Plague vs. Pandemic: Q&A with James Vaughan, founder of Ndemic Studios". www.pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ↑ "CDC - Blogs - Public Health Matters Blog – Plague Inc". 2013-04-29. Archived from the original on 29 April 2013. Retrieved 2025-01-28.
- ↑ Stephen, Bijan (2020-03-24). "The creators of Plague Inc. are adding a new game mode that lets you stop an outbreak". The Verge. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
- ↑ "Plague Inc. dev Ndemic donates $250,000 to COVID-19 response funds". www.gamedeveloper.com. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
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