Niantic has reportedly postponed the launch of Pokémon GO in Japan and is moving it for Thursday after the reports of the AR game's rollout became viral across several forums and sites.
McDonalds Japan, one of the first giant sponsors of Pokémon GO, could be blamed for the delay as their internal email regarding the launch was leaked. The companies decided to postpone the launch to prevent another server overload considering that more people in Japan now know that the game will be launched on a specific date.
At first, the launch was supposed to be moved to the afternoon. However, Niantic and the other companies chose to just cancel the entire launch for the day. One source that is familiar with the Pokémon GO plans told TechCrunch that Niantic did not want to overload the game and cause another server blackout.
Niantic admitted earlier that the reason behind the long wait for a Japan release for Pokémon GO was the server capacity. Some people criticized their decision making as they did not foresee the other countries' hype which has already caused several server crashes.
There is no confirmed Pokémon GO Japan release date but it could be expected on July 21, Nikkei reported. The news report is in Japanese but the rough translation from Google Translate says that it could be launched in the 21th day of July based on its statement regarding the previous launches in the United States and other countries.
With the delay of the Pokémon GO launch in Japan, the international rollout could be pushed back as well. There are no release dates for the other countries in Asia but it could be expected that they will be delayed as well.
Another delay is with the first opening of the sponsored McDonalds Pokémon Gyms. The fast-food chain giant has confirmed that they are turning their over 3000 stores in Japan into gyms where players can battle each other.
Sponsorship-wise, there could be other establishments waiting to join in on the global craze. The number of sponsors could still rise once the Pokémon GO app has been officially launched across all possible markets around the globe.