Nintendo Co Ltd’s head has said that the company plans to launch the hugely popular mobile game, Pokemon Go in some 200 countries and regions“relatively soon”. Presently they are working on server capacity to enable wider rollout worldwide.
The game has made augmented reality popular among mainstream folks. Pokemon Go was released on July 6th in the US, Australia and New Zealand. A couple of days back, the game expanded to Germany and the UK. Speaking on the server crashes, Nintendo had stated:“The enthusiastic response to the launch of Pokemon Go has been tremendous and inspiring. We’re aware of the server issues that our players have been experiencing and are working around the clock to resolve them as soon as possible.”
Inan interview with Reuters,chief executive of Niantic (who along with Nintendo developed the game)John Hanke said:“Why limit it?” Although he refused to share the timeline of the roll-out,Hanke hinted that the company’s very first location-based augmented reality game calledIngress took a month or two toroll out to around 200 marketplaces.
Moreover,Hanke revelation helped Nintendo shares experience a surge of 10%, therefore, setting a record in daily trading volume on the Tokyo bourse for individual stocks.Nintendo shares have climbed to 86% in just over a week’s time, adding some $17 billion in market value.
Also Read:How to throw your Pokeball in a curveball in ‘Pokemon GO’
John Hanke informed the game would soon be made available in Japan and North Korea where Google’s mapping functions are restricted due to security issues with North Korea. According to Amsterdam-based research firm Newzoo,South Korea is the world’s fourth-biggest gaming market after China, the United States and Japan.
Speaking on the prospects of a Chinese launch,Hanke informed, regulations of the country has to be taken into consideration. He also spoke about beginningsponsorship scheme similar to that of Ingress. Under the scheme,designates sponsors’ stores and vending machines will be used as spots in the game. Globally,Niantic currently has eight corporate sponsors for Ingress, including SoftBank Group Corp. The company is likely to follow similar footsteps.
