Fact-check: No, Bill Gates, Microsoft did not make 1999 video game 'Omikron'

Omicron: Bill Gates said the pandemic can be over in 2022 if we take the right steps.

A section of social media has been falsely claiming that Microsoft and its co-founder, Bill Gates, had created a video game called “Omikron” in 1999, over two decades before the fast-spreading variant of COVID-19 emerged.

"'Omicron' was the name of a 1999 video game by Microsoft (Bill Gates) about demons pretending to be humans and harvesting their souls… I’ll just leave that right here" reads a now-deleted Facebook post from December 14 by the account, Scotty The Kid. The post was taken off because it was false information, Facebook said. The post was shared by 492 accounts and got 78 comments.

A similar message on Facebook, posted as a graphics image, too has been deleted. Over 2,000 accounts had shared that post.

The original video game, called "Omikron: The Nomad Soul”, was created by Quantic Dream and published by Eidos Interactive, USA Today reported.

The game was released on Microsoft Windows platform in November 1999, and was not developed by Microsoft or Gates, as the social media posts claim.

Omicron variant of coronavirus, which first emerged in South Africa, is named after the 15th letter of the Greek alphabet.

Similarly, the Delta variant is named after the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet.

According to the World Health Organization, such a naming system makes announcement about variants easier and less confusing.

On Tuesday, Bill Gates, 67, cautioned that the Omicron variant of COVID-19 will "soon be in every country in the world'. The billionaire said the world could be entering the “worst phase of the pandemic”, adding that he is cancelling most of his holiday plans.

“Just when it seemed like life would return to normal, we could be entering the worst part of the pandemic. Omicron will hit home for all of us. Close friends of mine now have it, and I’ve cancelled most of my holiday plans,” Gates said in a series of tweets.

“The big unknown is how sick omicron makes you. We need to take it seriously until we know more about it. Even if it’s only half as severe as delta, it will be the worst surge we have seen so far because it’s so infectious.”