‘Pokémon Go’ set for mainland China release

US developer Niantic poised to enter the world’s biggest gaming market

Chinese gamers lusting for the rabidly popular Pokémon Go, banned in mainland China since its release in 2016, will at long last be able to catch them all. Niantic, the augmented reality smartphone game’s US-based developer, announced a partnership on Tuesday with local gaming company NetEase, signaling its entry into the world’s largest gaming market after a year in which the company saw declining revenues.

The barriers to introducing the latest installment of the Pokémon franchise to China’s 600 million gamers were previously considered too steep. The government’s tight regulation of virtual space seemed to rule out the possibility. Beyond the problems posed by Pokémon Go’s reliance on Google geolocating software blocked in China, the country’s censoring body declined to license the game last year, citing potential threats to national security and personal safety, according to Reuters. In an interview with the Financial Times confirming the NetEase partnership, Niantic CEO John Hanke did not specify a launch date or clarify how the developer plans to adapt the game for the Chinese market.

Its eventual mainland release is sure to make waves in the Chinese gaming sphere. China’s Pokémon devotees have already gone to considerable lengths to experience the wonders of AR gameplay, using VPN to skirt the censors and co-opt other countries’ Pokémon Go servers. Some have even put the platform to nationalistic use. One patriot, playing as a dragonite bearing the moniker “Long Live China!,” went so far as to infiltrate and conquer a gym located at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, an homage to Japan’s war dead.

Signage banning Pokémon Go gameplay in designated areas across countries where the game is available allude to the darker side of virtual hunting. The failure of some gamers to exercise common sense, impulse control, and situational awareness in public space has occasionally resulted in tragedy. Elsewhere in greater China, the game has produced stampedes, brushes with the military, and a steady supply of Darwin Award contenders.

Whether Pokémon Go will ultimately augment or diminish reality on the mainland remains to be seen. With great power comes great responsibility, as the adage goes.