"Pokemon GO," the hit mobile app that has garnered a massive following, is finally available in South Korea 6 months after its initial debut worldwide. Nintendo was able to work around tight governmental restrictions of Google Maps to allow that release of the game.
On January 24, "Pokemon GO" finally went live and Pokemon was released for South Korean gamers to capture, digitally. Niantic officially tweeted that the game is already available for download from Google Play or the App Store.
We’re excited to announce that Pokémon GO is now officially available for download in South Korea. Get up and GO! https://t.co/68SQ9WaWy0
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) January 24, 2017
Fans of the hit augmented-reality mobile game were wondering why the delay for one of the most lucrative markets in the world. One of the main reasons is that South Korea shares a border with the North, the country's security concerns are on high alert.
Thus, Google Maps has been limited by the South Korean government, according to Reuters. Naturally, since players will need to move around and capture digital creatures, the augmented-reality game "Pokemon GO" requires access to Google Maps to fully operate.
Although the creators of the hit mobile game did not disclose details about how they were able to handle the problem, Dennis Hwang, Niantic Art Director, said: "We used various publicly accessible data sources." Meanwhile, Pokemon Korea Chief Executive Jae Boem noted that they have waited for a long time and that they have worked very hard to launch the augmented-reality mobile game in South Korea, as reported by Fortune.
When "Pokemon GO" launched worldwide in the summer of 2016, it has since been downloaded over 500 million times. Nintendo and Niantic Labs jointly worked to bring this hit game to mobile platforms. It challenges users to go out and move around the real world and capture virtual creatures, called Pokemon, and then train them to fight against other players.
The game succeeded for a while until it has since slowly died down. Now, Niantic is working to regularly update the game for its active players. Adding South Korea to the equation could help boost back the number of game downloads. South Koreans spend a significant capita on mobile games compared with other countries, except Japan, per analyst firm IHS.
Whether "Pokemon GO" could see a boost now that it has been made available in South Korea is yet to be determined. Official numbers have not yet been released. Stay tuned for more updates.
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