It’s a PC strategy / sim influenced by the likes of Transport Tycoon, and its creator has been in drug-fuelled development since May. Finally, a corporate empire that’s evil.
Positech Games, creator of the Democracy and Gratuitous series, is publishing this indie game. Big Pharma has us tackle big questions, like, do we care about cures?
One could argue it’s not exactly profitable to go off saving pockets of the world from deadly diseases, not when your latest Viagra research looks to milk (no pun intended) Hollywood and New York’s elite dry. That’s the kind of dilemma we’ll be facing in this tycoon, alongside protecting our expensive to research patents.
”At its core, Big Pharma is a really tight puzzle game about managing production lines. I’ve taken this core gameplay and set it against the backdrop of the pharmaceutical industry, which adds all sorts of lovely complications and opportunities to explore,” explains creator Tim Wicksteed. ”First of all, you’re not the only company competing in this market.”
”All drug prices are affected by supply and demand, so unless you’ve got a patent to protect your fantastic formulas you can expect those selling prices to fall pretty sharply.”
”Another subtlety of the pharmaceutical industry I’m looking to explore is the fact that the most important cures aren’t necessarily the ones that will make a lot of profit. Cures that pander towards the whims of western countries will normally be able to sustain higher prices while the vaccine that is urgently needed by millions of people in developing nations won’t sell for more than a few pennies each. If you only had space on your factory floor for one, which would you produce?”
Check out the official Big Pharma website to learn more, with the PC game due out in early 2015.
