Pokémon GO has slowly but surely finding its way to more countries over the past week, but one region which is still waiting is Japan. Despite briefly getting the game alongside Australia and New Zealand, access was withdrawn when it became clear that the game's servers couldn't cope with the demands of Pokémon's homeland.
Server problems continue to plague the game irrespective of where you happen to be in the world, and Niantic CEO John Hanke says the smartphone app won't be coming to Japan for a while yet as the servers need beefing up before a launch can take place:
At present, the server capacity in Japan is not powerful enough. We are working hard with our partners in Japan to enable the servers to keep up with demand once the game goes online there. We expect it to be released by the end of July.
According to Forbes, even late July might be optimistic - some industry experts think that September is more likely.
Hanke expects the game to expand to over 200 countries "within a couple of months". Are you still waiting for your dose of monster-catching goodness, or have you succumbed to temptation and used our guide to install the game even if it's not available in your region?
[source forbes.com]
Comments 20
I don't see them making Japan wait until September.
I think it's pretty impressive how well their servers have been coping so far. I know there have been problems, and I've spent an hour or so attempting to get the game to load and connect on various occasions, but with millions of people playing this game at any stage I think it's incredible that they work as well as they do.
Nevertheless, I'm still looking forward to some beefier servers for sure.
I'm kind of surprised Japan didn't get this first.
@Megas or a Dragon Quest fan.
That's very surprising since Japan usually gets Nintendo things first and everywhere else has to wait. Hopefully they'll be able to enjoy it soon.
AND THEY'RE STILL IGNORING FRANCE
They obviously were not expecting to get half of the world population to play the game 24/7. They probably had plans for 2 billions simultaneous players max
They really need to sort the server issues ASAP. Most of yesterday I found the app totally useless. If it worked having my battery drain to nothing in the course of five-six hours wouldn't bother me, but having to constantly restart the thing and achieve very little during that time isn't leaving a great taste in my mouth. On the way to work was one of my few trouble-free periods with it. It's almost impossible to say what it's normally supposed to be like given how flaky the network is and the fact that it seems to interfere with general connectivity on my phone, impacting other apps.
I like the idea, but they really didn't do sufficient infrastructure planning at all. This is one of the most popular gaming franchises ever with multiple generations of players, come on!
The irony is massive in this one...
They will have to buy a new island just for the servers in Japan.
I thought people in Japan play this with actual Pokeballs capturing real Pokemon.
Still nothing for Brazil.
I wonder how naughty Japanese are....and download it via a work-around. Here in Holland everyone was playing it BEFORE the launch!
"That's very surprising since Japan usually gets Nintendo things first and everywhere else has to wait. Hopefully they'll be able to enjoy it soon"
Yeah, very strange. Though I have a feeling they did it this way to test the waters for Japan, since they expected it to explode in Japan. But they never expected it to be this big in the rest of the world (it probably will be also much bigger in Japan then expected).
Besides: Its Nintendo! They adapt to the modern world one baby-step at the time. Hence the server-problems. But they learn eventually.
I have no problem with this since Japan has gotten many Nintendo games earlier than the rest of the world, now it's time for them to see how NA and EU fans have felt
Well it's down again now that the US has woken up. Again.
@DavidMOrrom France have declared a state of Emergency. Might have something to do with that. Y'know, little kids roaming the streets with ISIS nutters about.
I heard they were hacked over the weekend.
@GrailUK We've been in a state of emergency since last year, hasn't changed anything, except you now can't park near an administrative building.
@DavidMOrrom Sorry mate, that's all I got No idea why then.
@GrailUK Just confirmed that you're right
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