Pokemon Go May Be Preparing to Launch in China

A brief incident might point to Pokemon Go finally coming to China.

On August 2nd, several players reported that Pokemon Go suddenly sprang to life near Taiyuan China, with PokeStops, gyms, and even wild Pokemon appearing where nothing was before. The test lasted for several hours before the gyms and PokeStops disappeared entirely, returning Pokemon Go to a blank map.

China banned Pokemon Go in January, citing security concerns as players use their phone's GPS to play the game. Pokemon Go complied with the Chinese government's wishes and has not unlocked any Pokemon spawns, PokeStops, or gyms within the Chinese mainland. Pokemon Go is available in Hong Kong, which maintains a level of autonomy from the rest of China.

While it's possible that Pokemon Go's brief appearance in China was a fluke, players reported similar "test runs" in India and Japan before Pokemon Go launched in those countries.

China is Pokemon Go's largest untapped market, with an estimated 600 million smartphone users within the country. Although Pokemon Go is banned in several other countries, none are as large (or have as much money making potential) as China.

The Pokemon franchise has traditionally had issues entering the Chinese market and has suffered for years due to knockoff merchandise and counterfeit games. Recently, Nintendo released Pokemon Sun and Moon with two Chinese language options, and the Pokemon Company partnered with the Chinese retail giant Alibaba as an official merchandise partner.

WWG has reached out to Niantic for comment and we'll update if there's any news of a potential Pokemon Go release in China.

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