While Pokémon Go crushes records in the US, Australia and New Zealand, the rest of the world watches on in wonder. But, don’t worry, for it’s on the way.
After news of Pokémon Go’s incredible popularity over the weekend, with $7.5bn added to Nintendo’s value on the back of the surge, many were left wondering when it would be released in Europe.
The answer is pretty soon, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cites people familiar with plans as saying a rollout to Europe and Asia will take place “within a few days”.
That means an app that has been downloaded by over 5pc of all Android users in the US, has sparked incredible enthusiasm throughout social media and is more popular than Tinder and, perhaps, Twitter, is soon coming to Irish shores.
The reason the game is so popular is twofold. First up, nostalgia. Pokémon was immensely popular in the 1990s. Rolling out an old rock star is always a winner. Secondly, it’s putting AR into the pop culture mainstream for one of the first times.
The augmented reality (AR) side of things means Pokémon Go is getting users to get up off the couch and out into the open. Using GPS and time, the game shows Pokémon characters everywhere you go, encouraging you to catch them all.
As you move around, different and more types of Pokémon will appear depending on where you are and what time it is.
It might be a little surprising that it’s coming to Europe so soon. The servers supporting the app have been so strained that they have gone down several times already.
That prompted the team behind the literally overnight success to hesitate before a larger rollout.
John Hanke, CEO of Niantic, the Alphabet spin-off that worked with The Pokémon Company to build the app, said the rollout is “paused until we’re comfortable”.
However, it seems that “comfortable” point may have been reached.
Pokémon image via WindyBoy/Shutterstock
