Fact Check: Were Bill Gates & Microsoft responsible for 1999 game 'Omikron'? Read to know

Ever since the new variant of the COVID-19 virus, Omicron, came into existence, people are making bold claims on social media, one of which is that a video game named 'Omikron', which was popular in the late 90s and early 2000s was created by Microsoft and its co-founder, Bill Gates which is not true at all. As per the reports of USA Today, the original video game, "Omikron: The Nomad Soul," was created by Quantic Dream and distributed by Eidos Interactive. The game was released in November 1999 on the Microsoft Windows platform and was not developed by Microsoft or Gates, as many social media posts imply.

The debate started when one Facebook user named Scooty The Kid shared a post on December 14, which stated that Omicron was the title of a Microsoft video game released in 1999 about demons impersonating people and taking their souls. The post has been deleted from Facebook now due to misleading information.

492 Facebook users shared the post before it was taken down

However, before the post was deleted, around 492 Facebook users shared the post, and it had already received 78 comments and also sparked many identical remarks, one of which was uploaded as a graphic image on Facebook. This was also taken down later. The post has been shared over 2,000 times.

Omicron is the name given to the new variant of COVID-19, which was first detected in South Africa last month, it is the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet. Similarly, the Delta variant is named after the Greek alphabet's fourth letter. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a naming system like this makes it easier and less confusing to declare variants.

Bill Gates on Omicron

On Tuesday, the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates in a series of Tweets, warned that the COVID-19 variant Omicron would soon be in every country in the world. He believes that the world is entering the worst phase of the pandemic, and he has cancelled the majority of his vacation plans. Gates continued by stating that just when it appeared that life would return to normal, the pandemic's worst phase may have begun. He stated that he has cancelled his vacation plans because his close friends have caught the virus. He then stated that they must treat the new variant seriously until they learn more about it.

Image: AP