'Pokémon Go' welcomes trainers in 15 more countries
Niantic's gonna catch us all eventually.
Apparently, Pokémon Go's launch in Japan signified a wider release in the region. Niantic's hit app is now officially out in 15 more countries in Asia and Oceania, specifically Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Federated States of Micronesia and Palau. A lot of people in those locations began playing way back when the application first launched by downloading its APK. But now that the game is officially available, they can get it straight from the App Store or from Google Play.
As TechCrunch noted, this latest Asian expansion leaves out three huge mobile markets: China, Korea and India. Niantic CEO John Hanke explained to Forbes in July that they're having trouble expanding to Korea, because the country's Google Maps info is pretty limited due to security concerns over the North's activities. In China, the company still has regulatory hurdles to overcome. It's unclear why the game's still not out in India, but Niantic admitted in the past that its server problems have been slowing down the game's rollout.
