Pokémon GO servers are down once again after the Niantic launched the game in Canada making it available for more than 25 countries across the globe but still not downloadable in Asia.
The AR game from Niantic has taken the world by storm despite still being restricted in several countries. Some users have even resorted to downloading Pokémon GO APK files for their Android smartphones just to experience the game.
However, the surge of the huge number of players from around the world have caused problems for the servers. There are also other factors that have affected the performance of Niantic's servers.
One hacking group dubbed as PoodleCorp announced that they were the ones responsible for bringing down the Pokémon GO servers as it launched in Canada and several more countries over the weekend, Android Headlines has learned. The group reportedly used a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack to overload and take down Niantic's servers.
The official Twitter page of Pokémon GO announced earlier that they have identified the source of the server problems but they did not specify whether it was due to the work of the hackers or just some other factor. For some, the servers are still down as of this writing but others have reported that they are playing the game just fine.
People have been organizing meetups for Pokémon GO players to walk and catch Pokémon around famous landmarks. The Pokémon GO server outages even led to the disappointment of thousands of people who met at the Millennium Park in Chicago to play the game, Forbes reported.
Another factor that could have exacerbated the situation is players who have been trying to use Pokémon GO cheats, tips and tricks to gain more ground without even leaving their homes. Their additional hacking could have added to the server load leading to the outages.
Niantic recently announced that Pokémon GO is now available in more than 25 countries across the world. Unfortunately, they still have not revealed the Pokémon GO release date for countries in Asia such as Japan and the Philippines whose players have been anticipating the game for several months now.