Despite not having yet officially launched in Indonesia, Pokémon GO, the smartphone game in which players hunt for virtual characters using a real-life map, has gained instant success among gamers and manga enthusiasts.
The app — a brainchild of the license owner Pokémon Company, multinational consumer electronics and software company Nintendo and Google's spin-off software developer Niantic — has only been officially released for Android and iOS users in the United States, Australia and New Zealand since last week.
Indonesian gamers, however, can download Pokémon GO through unauthorized sources though it may contain bugs or other imperfections in the gameplay.
"The game is still unstable," Andi Johan, 27, told the Jakarta Globe.
"Most of the time, the server is overloaded thus creates annoying moments when you are capturing a Pokémon [...] you have to force close it," he said.
Andi, who works in a multinational company, is familiar with augmented-reality games as he has been playing Ingress — Niantic's earlier augmented-reality game whose map is used by Pokémon GO — since 2012.
He stands among thousands of 20-something Indonesians who have been waiting for the game since its announcement in November last year.
These players, Andi said, have various motives in playing the game, from from a fellow Ingress player to long-time Pokemon fans.
Pokémon GO Gains Premature Popularity Among Indonesian Youths | Jakarta Globe
