The developer of "Pokemon Go," Niantic, revealed the reason behind the game's launch delay in India and Brazil, citing limited access by third-party services. The game, which rocketed to the top of free app rankings within just days of its release in the United States, is swarming with users across the world, including countries where the game is yet to be launched officially.
Other than India and Brazil, "Pokemon Go" is yet to be launched in several Asian countries including Singapore, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines. Word has it that Niantic will officially release the game in more countries soon. But it seems the company is stuck due to issues with third-party services, which delayed the launch globally.
Besides delaying the launch of the game in several countries, Niantic was also on the receiving end of the fans' disappointment after its latest update changed the way the game was played. Several players sought refunds from Niantic as the update reset their in-game progress, while some players looked for a way to revert the change.
On Tuesday, the company released a statement on its official Facebook page, after fans raised concerns about losing the step counter, also known as footprints, from the game. Niantic's official statement is embedded below:
Trainers,
As many of you know, we recently made some changes to Pokémon GO.
We have removed the '3-step' display in order to improve upon the underlying design. The original feature, although enjoyed by many, was also confusing and did not meet our underlying product goals. We will keep you posted as we strive to improve this feature.
We have limited access by third-party services which were interfering with our ability to maintain quality of service for our users and to bring Pokémon GO to users around the world. The large number of users has made the roll-out of Pokémon GO around the world an... interesting... challenge. And we aren't done yet! Yes, Brazil, we want to bring the game to you (and many other countries where it is not yet available).
We have read your posts and emails and we hear the frustration from folks in places where we haven't launched yet, and from those of you who miss these features. We want you to know that we have been working crazy hours to keep the game running as we continue to launch globally. If you haven't heard us Tweeting much it's because we've been heads down working on the game. But we'll do our best going forward to keep you posted on what's going on.
Be safe, be nice to your fellow trainers, and keep on exploring.
The Pokémon GO team.
