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Pokemon Go officially available in S. Korea

Collected: 2017.01.25

Distributed: 2017.01.31

Source: Go Direct

The international smash-hit augmented-reality game Pokemon Go finally arrived in South Korea six months later than its earlier release in North America and Europe due to restricted access to digital map in Korea because of its geopolitical risk.

Game developer Niantic Inc. announced at the press conference in Seoul on Tuesday that it has officially launched Pokemon Go in Korea. The Korean version of Pokemon Go application is now available on Google Play store and Apple`s App store.

In the location-based augmented reality (AR) game, players find and hunt the living cartoon characters hiding behind parks, hotels and building based on global positioning system technology and Google Maps. It became a massive hit driving mobs of people to hunt in the night and flock to strange places to search the characters after its release in North America, Europe and South East Asia in July last year.

However, Pokemon Go was not available in most parts of Korea as the AR game uses data from Google`s mapping service, which is restricted by the Korean government due to security concerns.

It fixed the problem by collecting publicly accessible data sources, Dennis Hwang, art director of Niantic said during the press conference. But he refused to disclose further details about how it has gathered the map data.

Pokemon Go raked in $788 million in sales in just five months after its global launch last year. The developer provides the game for free and gain profit from item sales and marketing partnerships with restaurant brands, mobile carriers and others.

By Shin Hyun-kyu

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