The Hong Kong gamers desperate to start playing Nintendo’s Pokemon Go
For superfans who grew up trading Pokemon cards and playing video game on consoles, not being able to download the app or get it to work properly while they await official release in region is frustrating
For Ian Cheng Hung-hay, whose childhood fantasy was to be a Pokemon trainer, Pokemon Go was a dream come true. But his dream did not last long – access in Hong Kong to the newly released smartphone version of the video game was blocked on Monday.
As Pokemon Go takes the United States, New Zealand and Australia by storm – it already has more users in those countries than the dating app Tinder – Hong Kong gamers can only look on in dismay after Google offshoot Niantic, co-developer of the game with Japan’s Nintendo, shut down their access to the host servers.
The augmented reality mobile game, in which players catch virtual creatures, called Pokemons, in real-life environments and battle other users, has not officially launched in Hong Kong and is therefore not available on the Google Play store or iTunes app store. However, excited fans were initially able to get round this by downloading the app directly from links online; Apple users sidestepped the restriction by applying for Australia or New Zealand Apple IDs.