Pokemon Go Officially Banned in China for Being "Dangerous"

Pokemon Go is not a “dangerous” game in and of itself, but we did hear all kinds of crazy stories last summer when Pokemon Go fever swept the nation. While most people were able to enjoy Niantic’s addictive mobile game without incident, you would always run across reports of people finding dead bodies, walking off cliffs, crashing their cars, or even accidentally entering into a neighboring country while playing the game.

Because of incidents like these, China will not allow the game within its borders. The Chinese state censor has deemed that Pokemon Go and similar augmented reality games will not be licensed until they have been thoroughly evaluated for potential security risks. According to Reuters, China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television cites “a high level of responsibility to national security and the safety of people’s lives and property,” as their main concern surrounding Pokemon Go.

As stated by the games panel of the China Audio-video and Digital Publishing Association, these risks include a “threat to geographical information security and the threat to transport and the personal safety of consumers.” There is also the fact that Pokemon Go (and other augmented reality games) use Google Maps services to track a player’s location — services which are blocked in China. Plus, China has already said Pokemon Go poses a risk to its national security.

Pokemon Go coming to China shouldn’t be completely ruled out at this point, however. There are a number of Chinese game companies that have developed similar augmented reality and location-based games (such as City Elves). China’s censor panel will seek advise from the top licensing body to see how it can move forward with releasing the game. However, it should be noted (as per Kotaku‘s reporting) that Niantic “is focused elsewhere at the moment” and may not see trying to get Pokemon Go released in China as an immediate priority.