"Pokemon Go," the Augmented Reality (AR) game, has generated global hysteria. The game is officially available only in 35 countries and is yet to be released in India. But fans are keeping up the pressure on developer Niantic to launch the game in rest of the countries too.
It looked like the game was all set for Japan release on July 20 but that has now been delayed. The roll out has been postponed after an internal communication from McDonald's Japan (game's sponsor) made its way to the internet. This would mean that over 3,000 McDonald's restaurants would be turned into "Pokemon Go" Gyms, TechCrunch reported.
The leaked email from the company had gone viral and Niantic wanted the game's release to be delayed, as the hype was likely to overload the servers and eventually lead to server crashes.
Following the postponement, it's not clear when the game might be released in Japan. Japanese newspaper, Nikkei has reported that it could be on July 21. But one thing is clear that the launch is "imminent."
Fans from Japan, where Pokemon debuted and Nintendo is headquartered, would not be happy with the delay and their frustration would only increase.
Niantic had warned that before the game is released in Japan, it wants to make sure that the servers will hold up with the surge in traffic that will result in the game's roll out.
"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," John Hanke, CEO of Niantic told Forbes.
Hanke had also spoken about the game's release in Korea and China being delayed due to security concerns over North Korea and hurdles with the Chinese regulations.
Though the game is already live in about 30 European countries, it has not yet been released in France. And according to one French article, the game was delayed following the attack in Nice, which killed 84 people and 303 people were admitted to hospitals.
The decision to delay it in France was taken by The Pokemon Company, as a mark of respect for its victims and also for the fact that players would have to roam around the streets, which would be a hurdle for the security forces.
"Pokemon Go" could be released in India only after the game has gone live in Japan and France, even though India offers the game a huge fan base. Nevertheless, Reddit thread, "Pokemon GO Release Status - Asia" has reported that India has been added to the server list.
Other Asian countries in the server list include Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan.
The game has had an unprecedented success following its release in the U.S. It has been downloaded over 30 million times and has generated over $35 million in revenue.
