Yes, bear with us…lots of Pokémon GO news lately, but this is where the focus is right now! And we want to keep you updated on all the big news regarding pop culture experience. The latest news on the game is that, despite many countries getting a chance to get outside and catch ‘em all, there’s one place that’s still waiting…Japan. Yes, Japan!
Hang on, you might be saying—didn’t they get the game when it was launched in Australia and New Zealand? Well, yes, but unfortunately the game was then removed when it became very evident that the servers couldn’t keep up with the demand. Is anyone surprised? Not really. Are we surprised that this demand wasn’t anticipated? Uh, yes.
Server issues are happening all around the globe, it seems, and not just in Japan. Niantic CEO John Hanke has gone on record to say that Japan won’t see a launch for the game for quite some time, as they’ll need weeks (if not months) to get the servers ready to handle the load:
“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.”
And while he says July, the news magazine Forbes that broke this news spoke to some industry experts who predicted September as a more likely date, with July being too optimistic for the load they’re going to need to handle. Either way, Hanke’s plan is to see the game in 200+ countries within the next few months.
It’s going to need all the server capacity available in order to make that work!
