The record-breaking and hugely popular mobile game Pokemon Go was supposed to be launched in Asia beginning with Japan.Following an email leak, Niantic has decided to postpone the launch of Pokemon Go in Japan. The news has not only sent shockwaves to fans, but it has also sentNintendo’s stock spirallingdown by 10 percent.
Technology news site TechCrunch said that the company was worried the hype generated by the game would overload the servers. Japan is one of the world’s biggest gaming markets, therefore, launching the game in the country is pretty imminent.Techcrunch also reported that one of the reasons for cancelling Japan launch is that internal communication from McDonalds Japan, a sponsor, detailing the launch made its way to several internet forums as well as on the photo site Imgur.
Since the release of the game on July 6,Nintendo’s stock gained 87 per cent in United Sates, Australia, and New Zealand, adding some $17 billion to its market capitalisation. It’s available in 35 countries.
Earlier there was news that the game would be launched in 200 regions across the globe. A spokeswoman for Pokemon Company (who had developed the game along with Google-spinoff Niantic and Nintendo), has declined to comment on the report. She said that as of yet, nothing had been decided on the Japan launch.
Pokemon Go is the first augmented reality game to have become so popular and is presently on its way to becoming the first mobile game to break the $4 billion-per-year wall, beating the widely popular Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga,according to Macquarie Research.
The success of the Pokemon Go was a total surprise. Within two weeks of its launch in the US, the game had surpassed some 30 million downloads and brought $35 million in revenue. Reportedly, the number of players of the game is more thanTwitter (on active users) and Facebook (on engagement).
