close menu

Niantic Explains Why POKÉMON GO Hasn’t Launched In Japan Yet

Japan may be the birthplace of pocket monsters, but the good folks over there have yet to enjoy Pokémon Go. There is, however, a good and simple reason the augmented reality title has yet to hit Japan: The servers aren’t ready. As everyone who has been obsessing over Go know, the game crashes routinely because of server issues. At this point, most people just assume that Niantic is using potatoes as online servers, but I personally doubt the validity in that. Jokes aside, it makes sense that Niantic is waiting to launch the game in Japan.

In a conversation with Forbes (via Kotaku), Niantic CEO John Hanke explained the situation: “At present, the server capacity in Japan is not powerful enough. 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.”

To be fair to Niantic, the team probably didn’t expect such an influx of players this early into the game’s infancy. Who would have thought that this mobile game would become such a phenomenon? Adding more stress on servers doesn’t sound like a good plan.

Despite Hanke’s reassurance that the game will be launching by the end of July, some are starting to fear they’ll have to wait even longer to start catching pocket monsters while on the toilet. The official Japanese Pokémon Go website went from saying the app will launch “July 2016” to simply “2016.” Just hang in there, Japan. It’ll come soon enough.

If you’ve been lucky enough to play Pokémon Go, which is the rarest Pokémon you have added to your collection? How many more monsters do you need before you’ve completely catch ’em all? Let us know in the comments below!

For those of you who can play Pokémon Go, here’s a little trick that may help you out.

Featured Image: The Pokémon Company

Daniel Radcliffe's Penis Saves the Day in SWISS ARMY MAN Red Band Trailer

Daniel Radcliffe's Penis Saves the Day in SWISS ARMY MAN Red Band Trailer

article
The Mysterious Medical Condition That Gives People Dragon Faces

The Mysterious Medical Condition That Gives People Dragon Faces

article
What Kind of Poison is THE PRINCESS BRIDE's Iocane Powder?

What Kind of Poison is THE PRINCESS BRIDE's Iocane Powder?

video