It’s no secret that the gaming market in the nation of China is absolutely massive. In fact, according to research done by EEDAR in 2014, there are more gamers in China than there are citizens of the United States. However, in January of 2017, it was reported by Reuters that augmented reality games, most notably the wildly popular Pokemon Go, were not likely to be released in China anytime soon, due to concerns around potential security risks, not to mention concerns about personal safety. It now appears that such concerns have either been resolved, or are in the process of being resolved, as it has been announced by John Hanke, the CEO Niantic (Pokemon Go‘s developer) that the game would, in fact, be released in China. However, an actual release window has not yet been specified. Niantic is reportedly working with the Chinese gaming company NetEase (who had previously worked with Blizzard to bring World of Warcraft and Overwatch to China), to bring the popular mobile title to the gamer-rich country. Hanke has also stated that, beyond Pokemon Go‘s Chinese launch, “there are opportunities to build games in China, both for China and for the world.” Source
