Sorry China, no ‘Pokmon Go’ for you

Sorry China, no ‘Pokmon Go’ for you

Posted by John P. Bradford // January 11, 2017

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The world’s most populous country will not be getting Pokmon Go.

Apparently, China thinks the game is just too dangerous to allow due to public safety concerns, according to Reuters.

China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television cites “a high level of responsibility to national security and the safety of people’s lives and property” and a “threat to geographical information security and the threat to transport and the personal safety of consumers” as reasons for Pokmon Go’s ban.

In other words, China thinks you’re just not responsible enough to play the game. Because, who knows, you might fall off a cliff, crash your car into a school or cop car, or stampede through a public park just to catch a rare Pokmon. No, no, no, you can’t be trusted to play Pokmon Go.

China also doesn’t want people exploring and snooping around places that might be off-limits to the general public. Like, say, military zones.

Pokmon Go also isn’t the only game that’s getting suppressed.

China’s not the first country to ban Pokmon Go. Iran was the first to ban the augmented reality monster-catching game following its runaway success in other regions.

Pokmon Go also isn’t the only game that’s getting suppressed. Similar games that have location-based augmented reality will be subject to the same block.

While it might seem like a missed opportunity for Niantic, the developers of Pokmon Go, the company probably had no plans to expand the game into China in the first place, seeing as how the game relies oGoogle Maps, which is blocked in the country.

Mashable has reached out to Niantic for comment and will update this story if we get a response.

Read more: http://mashable.com/2017/01/10/pokemon-go-banned-china/