Asians Are Upset That Pokémon Go Still Isn’t Available in Asia Yet
By Laura Dang
Pokémon Go was recently released in 26 new countries this past Saturday, but it is still unavailable in Asian countries.
The wildly popular augmented reality game, which was originally released in Australia, New Zealand and the United States on July 6, has become a worldwide phenomenon. Over the weekend, Niantic Labs, the developer behind the game, added a handful of lucky countries to their list of countries.
Despite the good news for these countries, Asian fans are growing more and more impatient. Some have pointed out the irony that Pokémon Go wasn’t released in Japan first. Japan is home to Pokémon and Nintendo is headquartered in the country.
Asian countries such as Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and China are also among the largest markets for gaming. A petition for the release of Pokémon Go in Asia has been circulating the net. The petition, which has garnered over 7,000 signatures, states:
“Asia is probably one of the biggest markets for gaming, especially for mobile game, and yet we are the forgotten nations for the release of Pokemon Go.
“We are watching all our fellow Pokefans all around the world, enjoying the gift that is Pokemon Go. When we stare at our own maps, we are greeted with empty land, zero Pokemon and the inability to be able to play.”
To date, the total number of countries where Pokémon Go is available is 34. After its initial launch in the first week of July, Pokémon Go became available in Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and Portugal shortly after.
The mobile app can now be played by users in the rest of Europe and Canada. The list of countries added are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden and Switzerland.
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