Gotta trade 'em all

Pokémon GO has been a runaway success for Nintendo, The Pokémon Company and developer Niantic - so much of a success in fact that the global rollout for the app was paused last week so that more resources could be put towards making it stable and improving server performance.

Niantic CEO John Hanke stated that the hold would remain in place until the company was "comfortable", and it would seem that day is fast approaching. According to the Wall Street Journal, the app will "likely be available in other regions, including Europe, Japan and other Asian nations within a few days". The information apparently comes from "people familiar with plans for the game".

Pokémon GO is currently available in Australia, New Zealand and the US. A Japanese launch took place but the app has been taken offline in that region while server issues are dealt with.

The fact that the Wall Street Journal's report says "days" rather than "weeks" is encouraging - from a UK perspective, the framework is in place already, with users who followed our guide to get the game early stating that in-app purchases are all listed in Pounds Sterling. Clearly it's just a matter of Niantic being confident the servers can cope with the increased demand rather than anything involving the content of the game itself.

Speaking of content, many eagle-eyed users have pointed out that the trading aspect of the game - which was teased during the trailer a while ago - isn't active yet.

Speaking to Business Insider, Niantic CEO Hanke stated that trading is "kind of a core element" in the game, but didn't explain if it would be location-based or would require players to physically meet up and perform the trade - the latter scenario is what was portrayed in the aforementioned trailer.

Tantalisingly, Hanke added that the game's current locations - PokéStops and Gyms - are the "most basic versions" we'll see in the game, which hints at forthcoming improvements which will allow players to "customize their functions in other ways". It would seem that Niantic has big plans for the game, which bodes well for the future.

[source eurogamer.net, via eurogamer.net]