Pokemon Go's debut ignites dispute

Niantic keeps silent on Google’s map data dispute

By Yoon Sung-won

Niantic officially released its megahit augmented reality (AR) mobile game “Pokemon Go” in Korea, the mobile game company said Tuesday.

But it remains to be seen whether “Pokemon Go” will attract a favorable market response here as the company unexpectedly released it about half a year after its global release, observers pointed out.

Speculation has been that the delayed launch of “Pokemon Go” in Korea was due to the disagreement between Google and the Korean government over the sharing of map data.

Last year, the government rejected Google’s request to bring Korea’s detailed geographic data overseas without agreeing to blur certain locations of national security such as military bases and Cheong Wa Dae.

Niantic, which has been a startup under Google, has run its location-based mobile games including Pokemon Go in overseas markets tapping into information from Google Maps.

As the game has become available here now, Niantic showed that Pokemon Go could have been rolled out in Korea earlier, even without Google’s map data.

“We are providing the Pokemon Go service in Korea based on publically accessible data sources,” Dennis Hwang told a press conference in Seoul.

“We have spun off from Google only about a year ago and still are a small startup. We needed time to catch our breath because we could not expect such an explosive response (for Pokemon Go),” he said, explaining that the delayed launch in Korea was not related to Google’s map data dispute.

But Hwang drew fire from media by refusing to elaborate on what he meant by “publically accessible data sources.”

The mobile AR game, which is based on intellectual property of the popular Japanese cartoon series, was introduced globally on July 7 last year through both Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS platforms.

Since then, “Pokemon Go” is estimated to have generated 1 trillion won in cumulative sales in six months. Hwang said its cumulative downloads have reached 600 million so far.

The chief art director said the company has continued to add new features to “Pokemon Go” to attract and retain users.

He also said Niantic is mulling over how to collaborate with Korean partners for associated in-game services based on its location tracking.

“We are working with businesses like Starbucks and Sprint in the United States,” he said. “We will be able to make business opportunities because the game has been designed to make users walk along the streets to play it. We are reviewing options though there is nothing concrete about it as of now.”

But some come up with pessimistic outlooks on the game here.

“Six month is a long period in the gaming industry. If Pokemon Go was embarked on here half a year ago, it would be a big hit in line with its global popularity,” a Seoul analyst said. “But now we need to see how Koreans will respond.”