We’ve learned something very important this weekend: pretty much everyone is incredibly excited about the prospect of being a virtual Pokemon trainer.
The launch of Pokemon Go, Niantic Labs’ new smartphone augmented reality game that allows players to battle and catch Pokemon in real-world locations, has been so popular in Australia, New Zealand and the US that the European release date has had to be put on hold for fear that its servers won’t be able to take the strain. It’s fair to say they didn’t anticipate this, which is fair enough – it’s not like Pokemon has ever caught on before…
A few days ago Niantic’s CEO John Hanke told Business Insider that until frequent crashing issues had been resolved there would be no official confirmation of when the app will land in the UK. That’s not to say there aren’t those who have discovered a workaround or two to get the game installed on their phones early, but most of us are playing the waiting game, watching on enviously as people post their most memorable moments with the game so far on social media.
But if reports in the Wall Street Journal are to be believed, you should officially be able to start chasing down rogue Jigglypuffs on the otherwise uneventful stroll to work ‘within a few days’. The report claims to be relaying information from people familiar with plans for the game, and says Europe, Japan and Asia shouldn’t have to wait too much longer before they can join in with the new craze. Once again, people: WITHIN A FEW DAYS.
Pokemon Go has already proved to be a very tidy earner for Nintendo. The Japanese giant didn’t actually develop or publish the game, but it owns a third of The Pokémon Company, and according to the BBC the free-to-play app has already added £5.4bn to Nintendo’s market value.
