Planned Release Date: November 2026

About This Game

Out of 1.4 billion people, who will you be?

In China, a baby is born about every four seconds. In One in 1.4 Billion, you are the next one. Which province, which city, which ethnic group and which family you are born into are all decided at random by real statistics. You don't get to choose, just as you didn't the first time.

Then you live that one life all the way to the end: school, the high school entrance exam, the gaokao, your first job, leaving home to work or going back; falling in love, marrying, raising children, buying a home; caring for aging parents, saying goodbye to them, and one day being said goodbye to.

One person's file

Every milestone becomes a stamped document in your personal file: a birth certificate, an admission letter, a marriage certificate, a deed, a retirement card... and finally an obituary. When the file is sealed, you see the whole of that life.
All documents in the game are original, simulated designs and have no legal validity.

34 provinces and regions, 56 ethnic groups

• Births follow real local birth counts, urban-rural ratios and ethnic composition: from public housing in Hong Kong to stone houses in Tibet, from vineyards in Xinjiang to arcade streets in Taiwan.
  
• Each of the 56 ethnic groups has its own names, festivals, food, weddings and funerals.
  
• Local dialects, breakfasts, temple fairs and the small, specific moments of a life are woven into your story.

Real statistics, no strategy guide

• Life expectancy, education, marriage, migration and causes of death are based on China's 7th national census, provincial statistical bulletins, and statistics from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
  
• Your choices can bend the curve a little, but they cannot erase where you started. There is no winning and no judging.
  
• Four other people born in the same second as you will live out their own lives alongside yours.

Pixels, solar terms and a life flashing before your eyes

Pixel-art scenes and characters, weather that changes with the 24 solar terms, and a life card you can share. At the end, you will see a reel of moments that belonged only to this person.

Content notice

The game depicts illness, accidents and death as they occur in the statistics, without graphic detail, and provides mental-health hotlines where relevant. Recommended for ages 15+. The game is currently in Simplified Chinese only. Some art and text assets were created with AI assistance and then curated and edited by the developers.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Some of the pixel-art background scenes were created with the help of generative AI and then converted to pixel art, recolored and curated by the developers. Some of the regional and ethnic-group texts were drafted with AI assistance and checked and edited by the developers against public statistics. The game does not generate any AI content at runtime and does not connect to any AI service.

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

This is a life simulation based on real-world statistics. It includes illness, accidents, the death of family members, death and suicide (suicide is only mentioned in text as a statistical cause of death, with no description of the act or imagery), as well as smoking, drinking, unemployment, divorce, school bullying and corporal punishment. All of this is presented as short text narration, with no violent imagery, gore or sexual content. Mental health hotlines are provided where relevant.