Top video games in the United Kingdom are being updated to display coronavirus safety advice in an effort to help young people get the message to stay home.

Candy Crush Saga, DiRT Rally 2.0 and Sniper Elite 4 are among the games that will promote the government’s lockdown messaging.

The theme is: “Stay home. Save lives”.

The unique type of digital messaging aims to target young people who might not be reading the news updates every day.

About 62 per cent of those who downloaded video games in the UK were aged 24 or below, a recent study shows.

‘Geotargeting technology’ will be used to detect players in the UK and make the messaging appear on their screens.

But Codemasters, the company behind DiRT Rally 2.0, said it hoped to extend the initiative to other players in Europe and the United States with localised public safety information.

Each game will display the promotions in different ways.

Rebellion, the company behind Sniper Elite 4, will show the safety message just before the game begins.

People playing Rebellion games on their personal computer will also be able to click a link to a website with further advice about the coronavirus.

Codemasters, meanwhile, has created a built-in ability to display the safety message within the actual game.

For example, in DiRT Rally 2.0, an off-road racing series, players will see the advice appear on roadside banners they race past.