Pokemon Go release date in India, China, South Korea still in dark: Will its launch come too late

It has been over three months since Niantic released its popular location-based augmented reality game Pokemon Go. Still, it has yet to come to several Asian countries, including India, China, and South Korea, which happen to be among the world’s biggest gaming markets. Now, due to the delay, there are high chances of gamers in these countries losing interest.

Niantic has said that it will release Pokemon Go in about 200 countries. The popular game has already been released in over 100 nations. As many as 31 countries, including Egypt, Morocco, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Mauritius, got it earlier this month.

Pokemon Go has been released in several Asian countries, but not without issues. Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam have restricted gamers from playing it at select places. The problem has also occurred in South Korea, as the country restricts the use of uncensored map data from overseas while the game requires real-time geospatial technologies and Google’s map data to play.

Pokemon Go is a free augmented reality (AR) mobile phone game that lets players catch virtual characters in real life.

The game also ran into problems in India even before its release. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed in the Gujarat High Court seeking a ban claimed that its release in the country could create mayhem. It stated that Go eggs were spotted in places of worship, thus hurting the religious sentiments of certain communities.

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There is no hurdle insight in China regarding the release of Pokemon Go, with Hong Kong already receiving it a couple of months ago. But it is not known why Niantic is holding back the game’s release in China.
The game could be released in more countries in the next few weeks, and this is inevitable given its popularity taking a nosedive in the West. Still, it appears that gamers’ curiosity will vanish by the time it is launched.