A recent interview with CEO of The Pokémon Company, Tsunekazu Ishihara, has been cause for concern. It appears the game may not be planned for release in Australia and New Zealand.
According to an interview by Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun with Tsunekazu Ishihara, Pokémon GO will see a staggered launch. The game will first appear in North America, Japan and Europe and will then be released to a wider global audience. In the second wave, the game will be released in South America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
That covers a lot of ground for sure, including markets not traditionally seen as valuable, such as Africa. But one notable exception is Oceania, that is, Australia and New Zealand, which is not mentioned in either of the waves of releases. This sounds like a startlingly glaring omission.
It could be Ishihara simply forgot to mention the region; but forgetting to mention a region that important is not exactly a mistake made too commonly, particularly as Ishihara included Africa in his list of markets where the game will be deployed. This begs the question: is Pokémon GO not coming out in Australia and New Zealand?
Pokémon GO will be released later this year on iOS and Android.