Coronavirus + PORN?! Game dev hopes to cash in on adult game promotion with viral twist

Game developer Kagami Works is luring in Chinese customers with 90,000 free copies of its “adult” match game Mirror - to keep players inside and safe from the rampaging coronavirus while “keeping them company.”

The developer has made free copies of the racy game available to anyone with a mainland China phone number in a promotion called “Wuhan, We’re With You!” on popular gaming platform Steam. Offering Mirror’s well-endowed anime girls to gamers “to keep them company” as they hide from the virus indoors appears to have been a good business move - while the promotion is scheduled to run through Monday, it is popular enough that Kagami has updated its original post to add 20,000 more downloads.

While piggybacking on an epidemic that has infected over 17,200 people and killed 361 in China alone might seem in poor taste to some, the promotion at least aims to encourage coronavirus-safe behavior - staying indoors, alone with one’s computer - and the developer is reminding any takers to “wash your hands as many times as you can.” Probably a good idea regardless of whether there’s an epidemic. The game consists of “match” and other visual puzzles accompanied by scantily-clad anime girls, with successful completion of the puzzles rewarded by interactive pornographic interludes with said girls.

Mirror only costs $0.79 per download, so Kagami isn’t losing much money by giving it away - and the free publicity likely to result from such a promotion is worth its weight in gold. Certainly, Kagami’s inclusion of actual advice - “avoid going out, if you must, please keep your mask on at all time” and “avoid getting physical contact with other people and stay away from the crowd” - puts it a notch above the Instagram influencers attempting to cash in on corona by posting photos of themselves in face-masks with no context.

The giveaway may help distract gamers from the cancellation of tournaments for popular games Overwatch and League of Legends, as well as game conference the Taipei Game Show, all of which have been cancelled due to the virus.

The World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global health emergency last week and the virus is known to be present in at least 23 countries. The virus first emerged in December in Wuhan, China, and while some 50 million Chinese have been quarantined in that city and others, it continues to spread worldwide. Coronavirus’ lengthy incubation period has made it difficult to track carriers, as they are often asymptomatic for up to two weeks after becoming infected.

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