As Pokémon fever sweeps the globe, our neighbors to the north have finally succumbed. If you’re a neighbor to the north, welcome to the latest cultural craze – here’s great place to get you up to speed before you start exploring.
Pokémon GO launched in Canada on July 17th, joining a growing list of 26 countries that includes Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Poland, and Sweden. The game has been a massive hit in the US, and spawned all sorts of weird stories, from players finding bodies to robbers luring in victims through the game. Beyond the weird, however, was the momentarily terrifying, when it was revealed that Niantic had full access to players’ Google accounts, due to a lack of clarification in the account permissions page.
Conspicuously absent from the list is Japan, Pokémon’s home country. Due to server issues – phrase Pokémon GO players are now intimately familiar with – the game’s rollout has been delayed. With an ambitious plan to launch the game in 200 regions, Niantic Labs needs to buckle down and improve their infrastructure first – an sizable task for a company with approximately 50 employees suddenly facing a worldwide smash hit.
If you believe you’re the kind of person who could tackle the server problem, you’re in luck – Niantic is hiring software engineers to deal with server infrastructure. In the meantime, we’ll look forward to what kind of weird Pokéstops Canada has in store.