Jazz Rosin
Update: "Pokemon Go" is now available on both iOS and Android platforms to trainers in Canada, however, South Amerca and Asia countries including Japan are still not on the launch list.
On Sunday, an announcement was released on "Pokemon Go" official Twitter account saying trainers in Canada now can discover and capture Pokemon.
Pokémon GO is now available in Canada! Discover and capture Pokémon all around you. pic.twitter.com/uTXwIk85IZ
— Pokémon GO (@PokemonGoApp) July 17, 2016
Meanwhile, the Twitter account also said, "the issues causing the server problems have been identified. Trainers should once again be able to search for Pokémon in the real world."
Reuters reported on Friday that chief executive of Niantic John Hanke claimed "Pokémon Go" will launch in around 200 countries "relatively soon" as developers are preparing for the worldwide rollout. This suggests that the smartphone game will be available soon in Asia countries, South America and unpermitted Europe regions.
It's a sad day for Pokemon fans in Asia and other parts of Europe as Niantic Labs confirmed no plans to release "Pokemon GO" anywhere else at the moment.
IGN Southeast Asia reported that fortyseven.com, in behalf of "Pokemon GO" developers Niantic Labs, dropped the bad news in an email response the site received on Friday.
The statement, which was made by Fortyseven Communications VP Chris Kramer, read, "The team is currently heads down working on the game. We do not have any announced plans for countries beyond New Zealand, Australia, US and Germany at the moment."
This statement was released in the wake of numerous rumors that Niantic Labs is getting ready to roll out the highly successful mobile game to Asian countries this weekend. According to The Jakarta Post, the title was rumored to drop in Asia and Europe "within a few days."
Niantic Labs has initially launched "Pokemon GO" in three countries, namely US, Australia, and New Zealand. Due to major server issues, the roll out to other countries was delayed. The game eventually made it to Germany and UK this week.
Despite the statement that there will be no plans to ship beyond the first five countries, the popular app was just recently launched in Italy, Spain and Portugal earlier today. This was announced through the "Pokemon GO" Twitter account.
According to Asian Correspondent Kento Suga, Niantic Lab's marketing manager for Asia, tweeted that fans in Japan would have to wait longer for the game to reach their country.
"'Pokémon GO' has been released in several countries, but it will take a bit longer in Japan," Suga wrote on his Twitter account. "Please wait patiently a bit longer."
Meanwhile, disgruntled Pokemon fans in Asia, Canada, and other parts of the world have been resorting to other means of playing the game, putting their phones at risk of getting malware via unofficial APK files.
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