Psyon Games, an award-winning health games studio, announces a new initiative designed to explore the power of games to raise awareness about the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). The project aims to increase awareness of the lifesaving potential of HPV vaccine through the help of a digital game.
This is an important issue for public health as HPV affects over 80% of sexually active individuals, and while most cases are harmless, the virus can lead to cervical cancer, which is largely preventable with a vaccination. Cervical cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide, with 90% of fatalities occurring in low- and middle-income countries.
Through an ongoing feasibility study funded by the Gates Foundation, Psyon Games aims to demonstrate that a digital game can be a powerful method for HPV awareness and cervical cancer prevention. As games are consumed by billions of people across all age groups, markets and various cultures, and are often played in a habit-like manner: regularly in small amounts with engagement sustained over weeks and months, games provide an engaging interactive environment where players can explore health-related topics. This enables health games to foster understanding and reach wide audiences in a way that traditional information campaigns often cannot match.
The HPV awareness project aims to use game-based strategies and interactive characters powered to enhance the reach and impact of HPV vaccination campaigns with a primary focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence of cervical HPV among women globally. The game is scheduled to be available in multiple languages to ensure widespread accessibility across the continent.
Known for its games that build health awareness, Psyon Games has previously partnered with organizations such as WHO, Gavi, and Unicef Finland on their title Antidote COVID-19, which became the only COVID-19-themed game approved by WHO, Apple, and Google during the pandemic. Antidote COVID-19 was featured in an academic study on emotional engagement in game-based learning, which strongly validated the game’s ability to raise situational interest and positive epistemic emotions about the learning topic.
Psyon Games’ prior work shows that game-based health awareness methods can achieve higher engagement rates and longer-lasting impacts compared to traditional campaigns. This approach can also enhance other campaign elements, such as social media reach and web traffic, extending their value beyond the initial launch. Games developed for such purposes often remain effective tools for years, benefiting schools, healthcare professionals, and community health programs.
Following the completion of the feasibility study in mid-2025, Psyon Games will seek additional funding for the development and deployment of the full-scale HPV awareness game. The project will be developed in direct collaboration with key stakeholders including subject matter experts and experts to ensure cultural, contextual, and scientific relevance. Planned participants include public health organizations, NGOs, governments, educators, community leaders, parents, healthcare providers, and the intended vaccination cohorts.
Psyon Games welcomes new partners to join them in this initiative which reflects broader efforts to explore innovative ways of addressing global health challenges through technology and interactivity.
Olli Rundgren, Founder & CEO at Psyon Games commented: “Games have a unique ability to transform complex health challenges into engaging experiences. This collaboration combines global health expertise with innovative game design to tackle HPV vaccination barriers. By merging behavioral science with interactive design, we plan to create a tool that amplifies HPV vaccination awareness in ways traditional campaigns cannot. Our mission is to create the most impactful vaccine awareness tool ever, increasing campaign effectiveness by 10–30 times compared to traditional methods.”
- Harriet Johnson
