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Why Isn’t Pokemon Go Available in Japan Yet?

July 17, 2016 by Ian Miles Cheong

Niantic explains why Pokemon Go isn’t out in Japan yet.

Pokemon Go hands on
Believe it or not, but Pokemon Go, the latest craze to hit both iOS and Android is not yet available in the country of Pokemon’s origin, Japan. Niantic Labs, the developer of Pokemon Go, says that the game will not be released in Japan until they are capable of meeting the server capacity requirements as they estimate that everyone will log onto the game and play it.

Speaking to Forbes, Niantic CEO John Hanke said that the app will launch in Japan by the end of July and not before they are able to raise the server capacity, which is already full due to its popularity in North America and elsewhere in the world.

“At present, the server capacity in Japan is not powerful enough,” he said. “We are working hard with our partners in Japan to enable the servers to keep up with demand once the game goes online there. We expect it to be released by the end of July.”

However enthusiastic he is for the July release date, Hanke said that a mid-September release would be much more likely due to the complexities of Japan’s network infrastructure.

Hanke says that he hopes to eventually launch the game in more than 200 different markets. It is currently available in US, UK and Australia and is expected to hit parts of Europe soon. It launched today in Canada.

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